Wal-Mart Drops 1,000 Magazine Titles

By Mike Sachoff - Mon, 01/21/2008 - 5:48pm.

Forbes and BusinessWeek Included

Wal-Mart is pulling more than 1,000 magazines from its stores.

Just about every major publisher will be affected. The retailer is thought to be responsible for generating more than 20 percent of all retail magazines in the U.S.

Des Moines- based Meredith Publishing will be hit hard as Wal-Mart will no longer sell the publishers Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies Home Journal. Other titles that are out include Conde Nast published Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek.

Titles that survived the cut include Time Inc.'s In Style, the main Sports Illustrated, but Sports Illustrated for Kids will no longer be carried.

Among other titles that did not make the cut include Caribbean Travel & Life, Robb Report, Boar Hunter Magazine, Spirituality & Health, Cabin Life and Log Home Living.

Over at Silicon Alley Insider Peter Kafka speculates on why the retailer decided to make such a move. "Wal-Mart is ruthless about maximizing every inch of its floorspace, and it's clearly decided that it's only worth keeping a handful of magazine titles on its racks."