I was at the local Price Chopper (grocery store) tonight to refill a prescription. To kill some time I went over to the really big magazine rack to look at fishing magazines. Do you know that there wasnt one fishing magazine on the whole rack!!! :shock:
Oh sure there were about a hundred White tail magazines a couple of turkey magazines and the usual gun stuff. Now dont get me wrong, I like to go out and blow critters away every now and again(to read “sport hunt”). I have a couple of motorcycles that get plenty of exercise too. Heck, I even walk around just for the walk ,so I guess that I may be a sportsman kind of guy. :o
I just want to know. What is going on that our sport seems to not get any magazine rack time like so many other things ?Are we starting to decline in those sort of numbers as to be negligable? I sure hope not.
Take a little kid fishing so that our sport wont become a target for PETA and be legislated into oblivion. 8)
The soap box is now vacated. :lol:
In my limited experience, you won’t see a great assortment of fishing mags on the stands unless…
[ul]1. You live in a “fishing” area, and sometimes not even then during off-season
2. You’re at a very sizable newsstand, typically in a heavily populated area
3. The newsstand buyer is an angler or has responded to customer requests[/ul]
Newsstands are charged for what they sell (or don’t return). After the issue goes offsale, credit is given for unsold copies and the newsstand is then billed. Thus, it’s not about money; rather, whoever is running the newsstand is dealing with limited shelving area and is giving priority to other subjects. Distributors handle thousands of titles, and most every newsstand has the same access to the same titles. There are plenty of fishing mags on those lists.
If you really want to see a particular title or two get some shelf space, ask to speak to the person in charge of ordering. Tell them you’d like to see that particular title (or two) stocked in the store and that you believe it will sell once shoppers recognize it’s sold there. If you have a couple friends that like that mag, tell the newsstand manager that you’ll be sending them down, too. The key element here is not every inventory buyer knows exactly what shoppers want, and the opportunity to learn comes with customer contact. It’s very likely that your local newsstand has numerous magazines in other subjects that don’t sell; the manager might really appreciate getting title suggestions and the chance to increase sales with titles that move.
This does work. I once shopped at a smaller grocery that had a small, but nicely merchandised, newwstand in the corner. There were probably less than 200 titles, and not one of them was fly fishing related. I asked if they’d consider stocking one particular title, and they had it on the shelves a couple months later. When the following issue came out, I managed to get one of the last copies…and I doubt it had been on-sale more than a couple weeks! I ended up suggesting a couple additional titles, and the store was stocking at least four FF titles…AND they regularly sold down quickly. It was a win-win.
So, if you’re a regular customer and you’d really like to see fishing get some additional exposure (for the sake of the kids, if nothing else), consider taking a few minutes of the manager’s time. 
Perch:
You need to get your prescriptions filled in PA. ALL of the supermarkets around my way have a zillion fishing magazines including a few I never heard of.
Be advised; certain supermarket shelf stocking geniuses, (you know, the same ones who put the food storage containers next to the moth balls); may have decided that fishing is a hobby or lifestyle thing and put the fishing mags next to Home & Garden or Model Railroader.
In other words; you might have missed them.
