The Magnetix store in Wellington New Zealand is the best specialty magazine retail business I have seen. It is ideally located in a busy city, well laid out, makes browsing easy, carries a diverse range of magazines, respects categories and segments and engages in creative in-store merchandising. Plus, their coffee is good.

From the outside of the store on the street to deep inside you can see this is a specialist business.

Here are some photos from my visit yesterday. First up, the front of the shop.

Here is a closer look at the table at the entrance. This is terrific for encouraging people to stay and drink their coffee and take a look at a few pages of the newspaper.

Just inside the entrance, to the left, is a wall of magazine posters, displayed in a way that makes them more interesting than we usually see magazine posters handled.

Inside and past the coffee counter is the entry to the magazine / card part of the business. Here is their father’s Day pitch. At other times of the year it features different seasons.

Their approach to displays can be seen in the magazine section. Check out this display for British magazines. Brilliant.

And see their promotion of Great Trains West as part of a Father’s Day pitch near the train magazines.

Magazine sections are well signposted and easily browsed. In each category and segment the shopper is spoilt for choice, making the business a destination for the magazine lover.

The magazine pitch continues at the counter,l with a small selection of other items.

Here is a view from the counter looking to the back of the store.

Here is a view looking from deep inside the business out to the entrance.

Magnetix is a terrific business. It is a genuine specialty business. You could only have one of these in a city the size of Wellington, population of around 200,000. Having only one shop and it being the destination in the city for special interest magazines offers a traffic model that could work, even at magazine margins.

Don’t assume their magazine displays look like what you have in a newsagency. They are nothing like it. More space. Shop floor assistance. Hip staff – nerdy about magazines. They go deep into special interest and this is the key. Plus they import plenty of titles direct.

Some other points worth noting: Magnetix is in a high street situation (not in a mall), it is located away from the main traffic area of the CBD, meaning rent could be less, the coffee is run as a separate business in that it has its own traffic – it is not run as a bolt on to the magazine business. Both are best-practice.

If you are ever in Wellington, check it out. Newsagents will find it fascinating. We can learn a lot from what they are doing at Magnetix.