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Discover Mid-America — May 2009
Point made, and responded to
 |
by Bruce Rodgers
A couple of weeks ago a loyal advertiser and antique mall owner wondered aloud to one of our ad reps, “Is Discover Mid-America becoming a ‘collectibles’ publication?”
Of course, the question got back to me, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. As the decision maker as to what is the cover feature article each month, I needed to know if she had a point — which she does when considering some of the cover features we’ve published in recent months, including this month. So I consulted our resident expert concerning the evolution of Discover Mid-America, Ken Weyand, founder and current “Traveling with Ken” columnist.
When Ken began the publication in 1973, he envisioned the editorial scope as one that would report about places of interest in the Midwest, particularly historic sites, and “serve as a kind of tourist guide.” He found that antique and collectible shops responded to the publication and that they needed each other more — in terms of getting their message out — than non-antique/collectible retail businesses. Thus, Discover Mid-America evolved into reflecting an antique/collectibles network of sorts.
“It was a learning experience for me,” said Ken. But by the late 1970s, he decided the mission of the publication was to “define the antique market as a community.”
This evolution didn’t come at the expense of featuring historical aspects — places within our network — or of the collectibles market. Both Ken and I agree that discovering the historical aspect of our region has a “natural” relationship to antiques and collectibles.
In other words, one can’t be into antique and collectibles without having some interest in history. Also, we agree that the antiques market is evolving into a collectibles market.
Now, if you’re an antiques’ dealer or your shop or mall overwhelmingly sells antiques only, you may disagree. I respect that. But in my experience, most of our advertisers offer their customers a combination of antiques and collectibles. Sure, a real Tiffany lamp or Windsor chair may create a buzz in an antique shop but so would an original English-made Matchbox car from the early 1950s.
Decades ago it was easy to separate the antiques’ market from just “those people who collect things.” Not so anymore. The reality is that the traditional antiques’ market is hindered by how fast and far it can expand or capture the interest of the general public simply because of limits in what’s available to buy. While collectibles, much more so, seem to invoke a kind of historical nostalgia and passion that generates a higher level of excitement in driving people through a shop’s door.
* * *
We added a new columnist to our mix. Check out “Live Auction Talk” by Rosemary McKittrick. She’s a fine writer and researcher, and her column is a laudable mix of storytelling and news on the auction front. Find her column on page 10.
Bruce Rodgers can be contacted at publisher@discoverypub.com.
> Refurnished Thoughts Archive — past columns
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