The Beaver takes the plunge into the U.S. newsstand market

Beginning with its April/May issue, The Beaver will be plunging into the roiling waters of U.S newsstand distribution. An initial test of 700 copies per issue for the first year will be distributed through MSolutions (serving the Southeastern states, including Florida) and Source Agencies (servicing Barnes and Noble and Borders stores nation-wide.)

“We’re very excited by this project and the opportunity to share the Canadian story with American magazine readers," said Deborah Morrison, the publisher, in a release. "With such a renewed interest in the Canadian –American relationship on both sides of the border we think the timing couldn’t be better.”

“But this wasn’t serendipity.” she added, “We’ve been working hard with Scott Bullock of Circ3 Solutions and Disticor distributors to build The Beaver’s newsstand presence for the past three and a half years."

From an initial draw of roughly 1000 copies in 2004, the magazine now has a Canadian draw of almost 8,000.

The upcoming issue that will be debuting on US newsstands features “Canada’s Rosa Parks” as the cover story. “That was serendipity,” Editor Mark Reid explains. “We start work on our features six months ahead of publication date so it was in the line-up long before we received confirmation of the expanded distribution, and Viola Desmond, the woman featured in the story has been tagged “Canada’s Rosa Parks” for decades.”

“We’re a Canadian magazine designed and written primarily for a Canadian reader,” Morrison added. “That’s not going to change with expanded newsstand distribution. But, there’s no denying this is a great story in which to debut the magazine to the US market and hopefully entice readers to pick up a copy.”