About Us

We are Magazine Canteen.

Our website was launched in 2016 after around 30 years of obsessive magazine collecting. Based in the North of England, our archive has grown in enormity to a size we couldn’t possibly have imagined back in the early 90s. Originally captivated by the likes of Smash Hits and Sky Magazine, our enthusiasm for more evolved into discovering titles such as The Face and Arena Magazine and so on….. | Pre internet, these publications were a window into the the world of popular culture and historic events globally. Even in the current digital age, we still prefer the actual paper product. A desire to own the physical object of something printed just the once and only ever available briefly, had us hooked many years ago. Waiting with anticipation until the following month to see what the next issue would bring. We believe that a magazine is not 'just a magazine’ but a significant time capsule of the era. Capable of both capturing the spirit of the times while also dictating and shaping the future

If you have just arrived at Magazine Canteen, we hope that you feel the same excitement discovering everything you’ve been looking for, as we did when we first realised you could buy every single and album by our favourite bands when Amazon was born, having searched record shops for decades! Everything you’ve been looking for, for years….in one place.

This is by no means an easy task, and something that has taken years of dedication and travel to achieve. We could go into detail and talk for hours of the lengths we have been to, in our endeavours to obtaining that one issue, or entire collections that we’ve searched for years to find. If you follow us on our socials you’ll know some of these stories!

_____

In 2010, we moved ourselves and our magazine archive into one huge place, purchasing what was once a large hotel in our local town. This has not been without its challenges! The collection of magazines we now live with is enormous and with around 100-200k magazines in stock, taking up many rooms, this is something which keeps us very busy on a daily basis. We work though our collections continually, constantly discovering exciting new finds. Being so familiar with each title and collection, stored in its designated area, this means we can retrieve and post any issue quickly.

If you follow us on instagram, you’ll see we are quite open about the life which revolves around this archive, our home, and having landed on quite a life changing event a few years ago. We’re not some random warehouse trying to make a quick buck on things we don’t really know about! We are extremely passionate about every aspect of this ever changing record of popular culture, and we devote ourselves to it entirely. It’s clear to see, from our section of titles offered, that this is a real website, with every item you see genuinely in stock…but we will happily answer questions to newbies.

We remain appreciative of every purchase, be it a single one off order, or fulfilling the needs of our regular collectors around the world. Thanks to you, we are still here and the archive continues to inspire and grow. We are also honoured to have seen our issues appear on TV documentaries, in fashion and photography exhibitions worldwide, as well as supplying models, photographers and actors with magazines they’ve missed at the time.

Thanks for reading. MC