![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
After running into the city to get Tool tickets this morning, I wandered over to check out Mag Nation - a magazine store and cafe near the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets. I pass it on the tram each day, but haven't been in before today. Armed with the perfect excuse (I needed to do some research for my publishing course) and some time to kill, I went in for a look...
It's an impressive setup - drinks and food at the front counter, magazine racks lining the walls, and stairs leading up to the bulk of their collection on the second floor. The store carries around four thousand titles, living up to their sales pitch of "more magazines than you've ever seen." I was in the store to look at science magazines, and I quickly found a whole wall of them.
The store is much more than a glorified newsagent, though. It comes furnished with couches, tables, free wireless internet, and signs encouraging customers to read as much as they want. I dragged a stack of magazines over to a table and started taking notes...
My only complaint with the store was that their range's breadth comes at the expense of much depth. I bought the only issue of a few different titles, and left the racks feeling a bit bare in some spots. Still, as the business grows and their turnover increases, I would expect to see more copies filling the shelves.
I managed to re-shelve most of the magazines I looked at, but I still bought a bag full in the name of market research. I now have five new magazines, notes on both science and sustainable living publications, and several stamps on a loyalty card that should get me a free coffee next time I visit. I'll be back, and next time I'll bring in a laptop...
On the reading list:
* Focus (BBC)
* Technology Review (MIT)
* Discover
* Scientific American
* Popular Science
Four American magazines, three of which are directly competing for the same market. One UK magazine - the only one I could track down. I steered clear of single-discipline publications (Astronomy has several titles), and pure-technology magazines. Well, except for Technology Review - I got hooked in by an article on using real-time MRI visualisations to teach people pain management skills. I also spent almost two hours taking notes, and found a new favourite store in Melbourne.
I noticed that the various magazines covering sustainable living (gardening/lifestyle/building/agriculture/etc) are all very low-key publications that seem to preach to their converted... full of useful articles, but I doubt that they have much success reaching a wider audience. I'll be watching Luna Media's new title very closely when it launches in November.
Speaking of preaching to the converted, I also flicked through an issue of Creation - shelved with the science magazines; devoted to Creation Science and Intelligent Design. I wanted to read it in more detail, but I couldn't stop laughing at a geological article on giant crystals formed by God's miracles...
It's an impressive setup - drinks and food at the front counter, magazine racks lining the walls, and stairs leading up to the bulk of their collection on the second floor. The store carries around four thousand titles, living up to their sales pitch of "more magazines than you've ever seen." I was in the store to look at science magazines, and I quickly found a whole wall of them.
The store is much more than a glorified newsagent, though. It comes furnished with couches, tables, free wireless internet, and signs encouraging customers to read as much as they want. I dragged a stack of magazines over to a table and started taking notes...
My only complaint with the store was that their range's breadth comes at the expense of much depth. I bought the only issue of a few different titles, and left the racks feeling a bit bare in some spots. Still, as the business grows and their turnover increases, I would expect to see more copies filling the shelves.
I managed to re-shelve most of the magazines I looked at, but I still bought a bag full in the name of market research. I now have five new magazines, notes on both science and sustainable living publications, and several stamps on a loyalty card that should get me a free coffee next time I visit. I'll be back, and next time I'll bring in a laptop...
On the reading list:
* Focus (BBC)
* Technology Review (MIT)
* Discover
* Scientific American
* Popular Science
Four American magazines, three of which are directly competing for the same market. One UK magazine - the only one I could track down. I steered clear of single-discipline publications (Astronomy has several titles), and pure-technology magazines. Well, except for Technology Review - I got hooked in by an article on using real-time MRI visualisations to teach people pain management skills. I also spent almost two hours taking notes, and found a new favourite store in Melbourne.
I noticed that the various magazines covering sustainable living (gardening/lifestyle/building/agriculture/etc) are all very low-key publications that seem to preach to their converted... full of useful articles, but I doubt that they have much success reaching a wider audience. I'll be watching Luna Media's new title very closely when it launches in November.
Speaking of preaching to the converted, I also flicked through an issue of Creation - shelved with the science magazines; devoted to Creation Science and Intelligent Design. I wanted to read it in more detail, but I couldn't stop laughing at a geological article on giant crystals formed by God's miracles...
