Wal-Mart and WFMR

Thought the WFMR issue was dead, eh...?

Well, it is, to the intellectual and spiritual detriment of thousands in the Milwaukee area.

But WallyWorld shows us why.

Wal-Mart recently announced that it is pulling some 1,000 magazines of its shelves. Among the titles getting dropped are The New Yorker, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Better Homes and Gardens, and Ladies Home Journal. Of course, a large number of more obscure magazines, such as Log Cabin Living, were dropped as well. The reason, quite clearly, is that Wal-Mart believes it can make more money per shelf inch by selling just the most popular titles. Indeed, the 1,000 magazines in question made up only some 2% of Wal-Mart's magazine sales.

Even more portentious:

As pointed out in an article online at Silicon Alley Insider ("Wal-Mart Gives the New Yorker (And Forbes, Fortune, BizWeek etc) The Boot"), 1/21/98 [sic]), other media industries may feel the pinch soon. "It is also a prelude to what's about to happen to the music business, as Wal-Mart and the other big box retailers start to hack away at the retail space they devote to music. And it may also happen to Hollywood, which depends on the big boxes for DVD sales."

One wonders whether the barfer-Beethoven will survive, as opposed to his namesake.

HT: Oligopoly Watch