The first edition of our Non-Traditional Newsstands pilot project has wrapped!
It was a new initiative from MagsBC aimed at reaching new, diverse, engaged audiences for BC-made magazines by establishing free magazine newsstands and pop-up shops in theatre lobbies and festival sites.
15 print magazine members and nine digital magazine members joined the project. The print magazines donated back issues for giveaway, and we purchased new issues from them for sale at pop-up shops at Massey Theatre, Evergreen Cultural Centre, Presentation House Theatre, and Studio 58 at Langara College.
Our participating members were (*=digital):
Asparagus Magazine
BAZOOF! Magazine*
The British Columbia Review*
Canada’s National Observer*
The Capilano Review
Digits & Threads*
EVENT
Festival Seekers*
FOLKLIFE
Geist
The Malahat Review
MONTECRISTO Magazine
Motorcycle Mojo
Portal Magazine
Principl(ed)
PULP Literature
RANGE Magazine
Ricepaper Magazine*
Room
SnowSeekers*
Stir Magazine*
subTerrain
Watershed Sentinel
ZenSeekers*
And our seven participating venues were:
- Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam
- Massey Theatre in New Westminster
- Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver
- Studio 58 at Langara College in Vancouver
- The Dance Centre in Vancouver
- Vancouver Writers Fest in Vancouver
- Vines Den in Vancouver
We distributed more than 1600 magazines on our seven newsstands between August 2024 and March 2025. We also designed and distributed 300 booklets promoting the participating digital-only member magazines. The booklet included QR codes linking to special subscription discounts, newsletter sign-up pages, and/or the magazines’ websites.
We will be expanding the project in 2025, pursuing new types of venues including cafés, community centres, museums, and post-secondary institutions. We hope to expand awareness of BC’s vibrant magazine publishing sector to even more audiences through this second edition of the pilot project.
Whether you’re a member magazine or work at a venue, if you’re interested in joining Non-Traditional Newsstands or just have any questions, get in touch with Aniana Domínguez and Sun Woo Baik, project co-leads at ntnewsstands@magsbc.com.
