Ottawa's Iconic Magazine Stores, and Specialty Print Magazines, "Azure" and "Arts of Asia", on the Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre in Toronto
LETTER FROM PUBLISHER
Simerg's Merchant
By Abdulmalik Merchant
I have lived in Ottawa for almost thirty years, and as a lover of magazines and newspapers I have been a weekly visitor to two great and noteworthy magazine stores in the downtown area, "The Globe" in the Byward Market area and "Mags & Fags" on Elgin Street, as well as "Brittons" located in the dynamic and eclectic shopping district in the Glebe neighbourhood. Brittons abruptly closed its doors earlier this year, with a notice posted on the door that stated, "Due to changing times our business is no longer economically viable." Mathematically, these stores have been visited by me alone approximately 1300 times! I have seen Prime Ministers, Bank of Canada Governors, ambassadors, politicians of every party and famous writers at these stores. Also, I may add that the idea for Simerg's highly acclaimed series I Wish I'd Been There was conceived from a special issue of American Heritage magazine that I had acquired at Mags & Fags during the 1980's.
Mags & Fags on Elgin was my favourite all along, not because of (Cuban) cigars or anything like that, but for the sheer number of magazines and newspapers that it carried from around the world. During the 1980's and early 1990's the magazine store even kept provincial and regional newspapers from around Canada, various USA States, as well from Africa (Al-Ahram, Egypt), the Middle East (Kayhan, Iran) and South East Asia. Gradually, over the years with the advent of the internet, the demand for newspapers declined, as did their availability at Mags & Fags. However, it remained the preeminent magazine store in Ottawa.
Mags & Fags before the recent transformation. Now the magazine section is confined to the shelf area shown at left. Photo: Mags & Fags.
The store has undergone a major transformation, and the entire magazine holding is now on one side of the wall, and not as dominant as it once was. Almost 80% of the shop is now dedicated to specialty cards and gift items. I lamented this change to one of the store managers on duty recently, who told me that sales of magazines and newspapers have declined substantially because of their on-line availability. The exceptions, though, are luxury and specialty magazines covering travel, fashion, history, as well as arts, culture and science. Some of these magazines are incredibly beautiful and bold and, because of demand, continue to generate adequate revenues, keeping the magazine section robust.
The Saturday Evening Post, one of my regular monthly investments for its great features as well as wonderful health gems.
Among the specialty or luxury print magazines that I came across this weekend at Mags & Fags, is the current July-August issue of Hong Kong's "Arts of Asia" which carries an elaborate piece on the Aga Khan Museum with a collection of fantastic photos from the museum's Islamic Art collection (for on-line piece, please click on first image shown below, but note that the downloadable PDF file available via the second column of the "editorial" page is huge at 15MB).
Earlier, I had purchased the May 2015 issue of the Canadian "Azure" magazine dedicated to the City of Toronto, with a nice piece on the Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre (for on-line article, please click on second image below).
While I am happy to provide readers with links to the on-line articles, on a personal note I would say that the on-line versions do not do justice to their print counterparts which are alluring, and a joy to turn and read from page to page, and cover to cover. The magazines I have listed should be available at good magazine stores or newsagents in your area, and I might add that Chapters-Indigo has expanded its magazine section considerably in the last few years. The cover price of Arts of Asia is US$20.00 (selling in Ottawa for C$21.00), and Azure is under $10.00.
My weekly rendezvous with magazines and newspapers at Mags & Fags, the Globe and Chapters-Indigo will continue, and I hope to provide readers with information on outstanding print magazines that carry fine pieces on the Aga Khan Development Network and its agencies, as well as the Ismaili Imamat and the admirable Ismaili community, of which I am a proud member. To familiarize yourself with the Ismailis and His Highness the Aga Khan, please visit the websites http://www.theismaili.org, http://www.akdn.org and http://www.iis.ac.uk. An outstanding resource and referral blog for all things Ismaili is http://www.ismailimail.wordpress.com, a private initiative.
Please click on image to visit Arts of Asia website. Then click on link July-August 2015 article "THE AGA KHAN MUSEUM OPENS IN TORONTO" on second column of Editorial section to download complete PDF article (15mb).
Please click on image for article "The Spectacular Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre."
Date posted: August 8, 2015.
Last updated: August 9, 2015.
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Posted By: Malik Merchant, Editor	Category: Aga Khan Museum, His Highness the Aga Khan IV, Ismaili Centres and Jamatkhanas	Tags: Aga Khan Museum, Arts of Asia, Azure Magazine, Brittons, Chapters, Indigo, Ismaili Centre, Luxury Print Magazines, Specialty Magazines, The Globe
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One thought on "Ottawa's Iconic Magazine Stores, and Specialty Print Magazines, "Azure" and "Arts of Asia", on the Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre in Toronto"
zarinaspeaks
I was so fortunate to visit both these outstanding buildings in Toronto on my visit to Canada a couple of months ago. I thank the editor Abdulmalik Merchant of http://www.simerg.com for drawing my attention to these articles. Indeed, for a few hours a friend and I spent in Ottawa, he took us round other Aga Khan sites, too.