Sniffle

(NEW YORK) Shop Etc. and Weekend magazines never moved into the new Hearst Tower, and now the industry knows why: Hearst Magazines confirmed today they will be shuttering both titles.“After launching and/or acquiring 12 magazines in the last seven years—one of the most aggressive records of any publishing company—we have reexamined the viability of some of our development titles,” said Paul J. Luthringer, vice president of communications at for the Hearst Corporation. “Unfortunately, because the performance metrics we set for new magazines were not achieved, and because of the challenging economy, tough newsstand environment, and rising paper and postal costs, two magazines will be discontinued: Shop Etc. (after its October issue) and Weekend (after its September issue). We thank Mandi Norwood, Cynthia Lewis, and their staffs at Shop Etc., and Susan Wyland, Lauren Michaels, and their staffs at Weekend, for all their hard work and dedication.”Quick & Simple, another title introduced last year, is showing steady improvement, the spokesman noted, adding that the company will continue investing in that franchise. “We remain committed to introducing and acquiring new titles, investing in our established ones, and growing our new Digital Media unit,” the company statement said. “This will further build our existing magazine brands' presence on the Web and into other new technologies, such as mobile, video-on-demand, and podcasting.” Shop Etc. launched in August 2004 as Hearst’s solution to the shopping magazine market, until then dominated by Lucky. The title published three times in 2004 and increased its frequency to 10 issues in 2005. Despite its unique, trim size and a healthy effort to inject creativity and color into the shopping magazine category, it received a lukewarm response and soon underwent a flurry of cover changes under Norwood’s direction. At the time of its launch, Hearst Magazines president Cathleen P. Black said, “The whole reader-to-retail genre has really taken off with consumers, and we felt the time was right to launch a magazine at Hearst entirely dedicated to shopping. Shop Etc. is highly unique and a terrific blend of style and service for the 25-49 year old consumer.” Weekend, meanwhile, is a lifestyle magazine geared towards leisure activities that debuted in June 2005. The company had initially planned to publish five issues through the rest of this year, with a guaranteed circulation of 300,000.“This announcement is no surprise to anyone who works at Hearst,” said one editor on the condition of anonymity. “If they were smart, every one of those employees at Shop Etc. and Weekend should have been looking for new jobs the minute they were not assigned floors at the new tower.” -- Fashion Week Daily

_____________________________________________________

I am so sad I absolutely loved Shop Etc. I kept meaning to get a subscription but I guess that wouldn't make a difference now. It's nice to carry around a slim little fashion bible as opposed to the monstrous Lucky or Vouge. O well, hopefully someone in publishing will come up with something similar.