Newspapers and magazines are very accessible in Hong Kong – from newsstands and convenience stores mainly. Below is a typical newsstand I encountered in Central this morning – one and sometimes two on every block. Only rarely are these stores branded. Most have product stacked plainly on tables.
All the Circle K convenience stores have magazines right at the front or even on the street like this one. As I noted yesterday, the range of titles is excellent. Watching traffic at this store for a few minutes in the morning rush and the magazine rack is very popular.
7-Eleven serves the magazine and newspaper category well here too. This store is typical of the street level stores – yesterday’s photo was of a 7-Eleven in one of their skyways.
Of course, the c-stores cover magazines and newspapers well because they are the newsagencies here. Sure the street newsstands are well represented but in a more traditional store based setting, there are no newsagencies as we know them. Hence the opportunity for c-stores to shine in the category. This is what would happen in Australia is newsagents no longer owned the magazine category.
I notice that most of the pictures you have posted show a significant number of full-faced magazines.
Does this appear to be a trend in Hong Kong more so than in Australia?
It is Jarryd in the c-stores and street stalls. In the new magazine specialty shops they have some vertical and some horizontal overlap but not many. They do have mroe control on the range they carry.