Periodicals: Supermarket Magazines

In 1932 Family Circle began life as a giveaway at Piggly Wiggly stores and later throughout the Safeway and Kroger’s chains. Designed to sell products that these supermarkets stocked, Family Circle printed articles on child care and beauty but always emphasized food preparation. Women were quick to pick up the free copies at the checkout counter, and the magazine’s popularity continued even when readers were asked to pay two cents a copy.

The supermarket and newsstand single-copy distribution system offered many advantages to the publisher, not the least of which was the savings in postage costs. Family Circle added new features over the years that would appeal to young readers with families: health and environmental issues were explored, along with changing lifestyles. But in the wake of declining sales and advertising revenue, in the 1980s the publisher began offering subscriptions in the hope of increasing readership. As of December 2003 only 23.4 percent of the magazine’s sales still came from newsstand and supermarket sales.