The Magazine Stores We're Escaping To
Over the pandemic, some of us have turned to magazines for connection when we couldn’t turn to people. With glimpses of other lives and different times, with stories of inspiration and creative possibilities, with images of places we can’t get to and people we aren’t allowed to meet, independent magazines to some of us have become the escape that we needed. But today, instead of featuring our favorite reads (head over to our Culture Therapy section for some ideas), we’re going to travel to our favorite places to find those reads. Hopefully, in one of these stores, you will find the magazine for whatever you need, wherever you are.
Shop. Journal. Podcast. Events. Consultancy. A magazine loving empire created by graphic designer and veteran of the magazine industry Jeremy Leslie: he worked on City Limits, Time Out and Blitz, titles by companies like Waitrose and Virgin Atlantic, and in 2018 was awarded the Mark Boxer Award for his contribution to magazines by the British Society of Magazine Editors.
The Clerkenwell flagship store opened in 2015, suitably in an old Squires Newsagents and in a neighborhood closely associated with the printed word — just up the road are both the first place where the word ‘magazine’ was used ( in 1731 referring to The Gentleman’s Magazine) and the University of London’s Journalism school. The space – described by Creative Review as ‘The spiritual home of independent publishing’ — has been designed to showcase the magazines themselves and to allow people to feel comfortable browsing the 500 or so titles sourced from around the world. You are encouraged to linger over the finely curated selections that are “based on gut instinct” and the right mix of great design, imagery, and content. You’ll find stalwarts like Interview and Zoetrope and newcomers like Baggage – travel for solo parents – and The World Needs Magic – transforming workplaces. A visit will have you falling down analog rabbit holes of the kind we’d like more of in our everyday lives.
If Lost recommends: Disquiet focusing on men’s perspective on their mental health, Friends on the Shelf, a conversation within its covers, and The Delicate Rebellion, inspiration for those going it alone as creatives, makers, and entrepreneurs.
In a town just outside of Manchester now undergoing a one billion pound regeneration (and where I went to school), locals Holly Carter (a designer and maker) and Martin Wilson (a graduate of Manchester School of Art) opened Rare Mags after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The bright blue storefront heralds an interior that holds a carefully edited selection of independent magazines and a true passion for the printed page, all in a definite northern tone. Stocking hard to find and international titles – and going deep on personal interests like indie titles for cyclists (Carter is an avid fan of the sport) and art & photography — this is a place to seek out if you want to find new and much-loved titles. There are magazines we’ve never come across. Like did you know there was an indie Scottish soccer periodical called Nutmeg, a wine magazine like no other called Noble Rot and a food history magazine named Eaten? There are also books, stationery and coffee (by local Hard Lines Coffee). Wish this one had been around when I’d been going to school just up the road. Would have made journeys on the A6 way more interesting.
If Lost recommends: Standart, Courier, Grimoire Silvanus, bilingual les others, this issue on Period, thematic ‘Lost’, and the most beautifully titled Where the Leaves Fall. In need of even more inspiration, choose one of Rare Mags Subscriptions.
Between a Card Factory and a Holland & Barrett in outdoor shopping center Rushden Lakes, you’ll find not WHSmith but Magazine Heaven. Why the name? It’s the size and breadth of titles on offer. Amongst its 3000 titles — the largest selection of magazines under one roof — you’ll find High Street staples like the Vogues and Tatlers of the world, newcomers like bathing magazine Hamam, niche culture magazines like Mayday and Soffa and even self-published magazines, Wonk, Scorchin and Explorations. Founder Bill Palmer has said the store embraces “a wide range of hobbies, passions, and interests within an environment that will encourage exploration and browsing’, its aim to “become a destination for magazine lovers.” With locally sourced coffee and blended teas at Artisan café, this is one place to linger – maybe for hours rather than minutes. Magazine Heaven also functions as a community hub, hosting Yoga, Jazz and Tapas Evenings, Games Nights, Book Clubs, and Art Events, amongst other programs.
If Lost Recommends: Bloom, Positive News, The Homeworker and Womankind. Magazine Heaven also stocks books such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s highly anticipated new novel Klara and the Sun.
Additionally try, previously featured If Lost places:
Let us know where you go to source indie magazines. Tell us about the stores that you love that feature a range of indie titles, the shopfronts that do for magazines what bookstores do for books. You can email us or fill in this form so that we can include them in our guide for life and bring more awe and wonder into our worlds.
