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The Non-Traditional
Newsstands Project (NTN)

The Non-Traditional Newsstands Project (NTN) at MagsBC is a pilot initiative to seek out new, unconventional spaces to distribute our diverse collection of member magazines.

Project co-leads Aniana and Sun Woo ran the first edition of the project from May 2024 to March 2025, partnering with seven performing arts venues across the lower mainland. We set up newsstands stocked with free back issues, and ran pop-up shops at several venues selling the newest issues.

In the 2025–2026 edition of NTN, we are mainly focusing on setting up free newsstands at museums, cafés, and post-secondary institutions across the lower mainland.

The goal of the project is to get copies of our member magazines into the hands of a diverse range of people in our community. We want to help magazines reach more people in places where we don’t usually see them, and increase the potential for new subscriptions. We believe finding intriguing, niche locations for magazines to live is a valuable way to get eyes on magazines.

Want to get involved? Get in touch at ntnewsstands@magsbc.com

Current Venues

Museum of Vancouver
https://museumofvancouver.ca

Studio 58
https://students.langara.ca/studio-58/

Saunter Coffee
https://www.sauntercoffee.com

Moodswing Coffee + Bar
https://www.moodswingbar.com

Evergreen Cultural Centre
https://evergreenculturalcentre.ca

Testimonials

The project’s accessible and engaging format fits the museum audience perfectly from all age ranges, encouraging meaningful connections with local art and writing. What I especially appreciate is seeing museum attendees sitting down and reading these works at the end of their gallery visits—this shows how the project deepens visitor engagement.

As a multidisciplinary organization, this opportunity was a great way to share more literary arts and local publications with our arts-savvy audience. It’s also great that we can support this project and local creators with very little effort on our end, thanks to their organized and friendly team.

It is refreshing to have a local program that supports the tangible world of print media. As we enter our 17th year of publishing authentic stories with original photography, these initiatives help reach engaged audiences and build community in Vancouver.

As a small literary journal with limited staff, we don't always have the time and resources to expand our distribution and engage directly with consumers, and so we appreciate this project's efforts to spotlight us along with other BC magazines. [T]he project's staff have made it easy by being so helpful and supportive.

We have found working with the Non-traditional Newsstands project to be an easy and effective way of reaching new audiences, and have seen a slow but steady increase in new subscribers during this initiative. The administrators go out of their way to make it easy for us to participate.

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