apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Say it ain't so! I am still lamenting the loss of House and Garden. I hope at worst it is a temporary suspension rather than a permanent end to the mag.

WHAT!?! WHAT?!? WHAT?!? Why is every magazine I subscribe to going out of business! I have two more years on my Domino sub!

Do we think Dwell is safe or is that going to fold too? Oh dear!

ahhhhh noooooo!!!!! First Blueprint, now this?!

I do not understand how Architectural Digest manages to do so well. All the homes in there look like the insides of Vegas hotels.

It won't surprise me - It's going to get worse before it gets better...

This would be really sad if true. I just stated reading Domino a few months ago. OK, OK, so I am one of the slower children on the block. It seems so in touch with new ideas ...

Oh so sad. All the "real" shelter mags with real people and real homes are going away. There's nothing in magazines like Architectural Digest that I can relate to.

I'm only two issues into my subscription of Domino O:

Not surprising. It's gonna get worse. They could try going quarterly or folding into Lucky.

Hm, keep us posted! I have a subscription to renew. It is my favorite of US shelter mags.

*falls to knees, fists in the air*

Lawd, nooooooo!!!

I know I will probably be ripped apart for saying this, but all I have to say is....so?

I got a subscription and cancelled it. It felt like every issue was a repeat of the last with new pictures. There were always some cool and pretty things, but nothing that really made me go WOW. They spent a lot of time pitching how "real" they were, but still spent (I felt) a disproportionate amount of space on the way too expensive stuff.

So, to my fellow design lovers, I am sorry you are all sad. I am just happy I still have AT and my other mags.

I love Domino & the like because they are glossy & tangible, but I'll take AT & Design*Sponge over them any day!

OH NO! I was a diehard fan of the home section in Lucky and ripped out almost all of those articles, so when I heard about Domino starting up, I cried for joy. I sure hope this isn't taken away from fans like me. It's always the smart, clever, and helpful magazines that seem to go first.

I was talking about this with my husband and we both agreed that this was coming, unfortunately. So that means, fellow bloggers: more design blogs will be coming... It is sad that these publications are closing.

I love Domino and have been a subscriber from the first issue. I would cry if they went away!

I used to be a subscriber, but really didn't have the money. Newspapers are going under too and it's all because of the rise of free media online. Communications will change, especially in this economy, and while the transition will suck, it's not a bad thing. Think how much we get already free!

Online viewing is not the same. And Domino is $10 for a year's subscription ($18 for 2 years). I can't imagine that would break the bank for the amount of entertainment and ideas it provides. That's less than a dollar an issue for 2 years. (I sound like I'm hawking subscriptions!)

oh that would be so sad. whenever domino arrives it totally brightens even the worst day!

I can see the headline now, "Domino falls...victim of economy"; ironic?

Agree with stellato. I didn't care for it, just seemed... kinda corny? I can't really come up with the word I mean. I'm sure I posted it before.

i hope this isn't true. getting domino in the mail always cheers me up :(

No. Not Blueprint AND Domino!

I agree! I was very sad about Blueprint, and this is so sad too. And I totally agree with Kah. I have no idea why Architectural Digest does so well. Talk about all issues being the same. And if there was not a whole lot 'affordable' in Domino, there's definitely not in AD! What's a young person to do?

(PS I love the blogs, don't get me wrong, but there is something so satisfying about getting a tangible magazine. In the mail. I love to get mail. It's getting harder and harder to get!)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo for the love of god nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

Crap. If that happens then I'm down to Living Etc. and Elle Decor UK...

This can't be true! Domino, Elle Decor and Met Home are my favs. AT, i need you more everyday!

THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! Too too depressing!!!!! I'm spending more on mags b/c i have to buy the UK ones!

As for loving design blogs - you can't read them on the subway...whats a shelter mag junkie to do!

I feel guilty...

I just got my last issue of Domino and didn't renew. It was a great mag when it first started. I learned a lot. But recently I think they've changed their focus.

I'm not sure if I can articulate, but it just doesn't seem to be meant for non NYC-dwelling, middle-class, zilch-formal-knowledge-of-interior-design me.

I really miss Blueprint, actually. So now I suppose I'm left with Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens and Sunset?

I would be very unhappy to see Domino go, one of the few magazines subscriptions I still carry, definitely one of my favorites of all time.

I don't know that it's the economic climate that is causing mags to loose money. Magazine subscriptions are a relatively cheap indulgence.

Media is going digital, whether it's music, movies, or print. Not a judgment, it's just the way it is. While personally I prefer a book, or newspaper, or mag in my hand, the way my boyfriend prefers to own the CD and packaging, more people I know feel opposite. You should see the shock on people's faces who are our age when we tell them we have a newspaper subscription, and not just on Sundays.

They want their music on ipods where it doesn't take up space, news is free online, and when looking for fashion or home inspiration they hit up design blogs and make digital 'clippings' which are free and again don't take up space in their homes. I don't think we'll ever see a bookless, paperless world, but I do think it will be less despite any turns in the economy.

I'm ordering gift subscriptions for my sister-in-laws who don't already get Domino. I really hope Domino doesn't fold. I LOVE this mag, I have every issue since the first. House and Garden was so good, and they folded. This economy sucks!!

When I am forced with having to kill my neighbor for a food source, than I will start panicking.

Yes I love Domino magazine, but I am not going to cry if it folds. Times change. Humanity finds away to adapt and move forward.

What makes y'all think commercial blogs are immune from waning ad sales revenue?

Buffalogirl--

Magazines don't make their money on subscriptions. They make them by selling ad pages.

Advertisers are pulling their money and slashing their ad budgets. That's why magazines go under.

However, the untold story is that ad page costs in national shelter mags have been OBSCENE for quite some time now.

Figures. I just got a free subscription for going to the L.A. Domino Bazaar.

I've been noticing a lot of weird ads creeping into the shelter mags. The Canadian ones I get (Canadian House & Home, and Style at Home) have had ads for things like baby products and soap. I'd expect that in Chatelaine, but not in the shelter mags.

Will it eventually turn into Popular Science with ads for pheremones, sex tutorials, and exercise machines?

"When I am forced with having to kill my neighbor for a food source, than I will start panicking."

That's such a creepy comment . . . and yet . . . hilarious at the same time.

Hopefully you don't live in Alexandria, VA.

so wierd! Everyone reads Domino..... I wonder why.

i still miss H&G, but this is all about the money situation the country and world are in. the question is how can a publication about shopping, like domino, continue if people have stopped shopping? i hope domino can hang in there until conditions change.

I had a subscription to Domino when it started -- hated it, and never renewed. It was too girly and too dumbed down. Shelter mags are a tough business, so you don't want to alienate huge chunks of the population -- and you should never make your demographic one that is migrating away from paper media.

I do miss House & Garden a little -- but it was getting too haughty and not building a younger audience.

Arch Digest has the richest following, so lots of ads from upscale merchants and designers. It will be around for a while more, safe to say.

AT should have a solid future -- never felt that any age/gender/income level/location/type of home is excluded here -- so keep up the good work!

I just bought a regular subscription for me and gift subscription for my mom. Sigh.

Maybe I'll just stick to buying magazines on news stands until the GDP increases.

patrick (the other one) - they sell ad space based on readership. Subscriptions are worth more to them than newstand sales, that's why they discount them and then mail out cheapie offers. Compare magazines to websites - websites could make you pay but usually don't. Magazines, when they have you as a reliable audience, make the price so low, it's very close to free by that point.

These are the things that matter to advertisers who want to put an ad on this space:
http://www.quantcast.com/apartmenttherapy.com
http://advertising.apartmenttherapy.com/?p=site-at

This is how much it costs to advertise on this site:
http://advertising.apartmenttherapy.com/?p=rates

These are the things that matter to advertisers who want to put an ad in Domino:
http://www.condenastmediakit.com/dom/circulation.cfm

And this is how much it costs to advertise in Domino:
http://www.condenastmediakit.com/dom/genrates.cfm

K T G--

Um, yes, I understand that. That's why I said they don't *make* money on subscriptions, but *want* them to increase circulation numbers so they can get more $$ per ad page.

Blogs (at least commercial ones like, gasp!, this one!) pay staffers to provide content, IT folks to keep it running, marketing & ad folks to attract ad sales and do the deals, etc... And how does the site get paid? By ads placed. I understand that ad sale rates on web sites are based on traffic, which is free, so I get where you are coming from.

Actually, I got where you were coming from before you came. So to speak.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! House & Garden, Met Home and Domino are my favorite mags. Don't go Domino.

Domino was awesome the first year but since then all the design has gotten ridiculously expensive and less accessible. I will miss it though and I love my Domino book.

there's only one solution to this problem: congress must bailout domino and the shelter mag industry! start calling your representatives now...

I've been a subscriber from the very beginning...I will miss Domino if it goes.

This cannot happen. I love Domino. It's my favourite magazine. I honestly will be in withdrawl if it goes.

My favorite day of each month is the day I fish the newest issue of Domino out of the mailbox. It is the only mag I subscribe to... I will be so sad if the day comes when that stops.

noooo.... please tell me this isn't true.

i just let my subscription lapse, too... it just didn't do anything for me. blueprint i will miss until the day i die, though.

if domino goes... would there be any reason to live? no, i think not.

I agree with buffalogirl: I'm saddened by our march to paperless reading materials. I love reading design blogs, but I much prefer flipping through a magazine. I almost never impulse buy mags. I fly every other month, so I subscribe to the mags that I like (currently, Domino is the only one since Budget Living went under) and bring them on the plane with me.

With the diving economy, I'm more interested in home mags than fashion mags. For some reason I feel that redecorating the house is a better use of my money than buying my nth pair of jeans. Obviously I'm out of step with most others since all the home mags are folding.

oh no, please don't let domino go!!!!!

And if Domino goes, how will we EVER know how to perfectly accessorize a room with a pair of carefully (yet casually) placed Manolo Blahniks/Jimmy Choos/Louboutins????

I am so mad... It is not like domino was groundbreaking, but I really liked it.... And it opened my eyes every month to new shopping websites to look at. I loved blueprint, and I loved domino too! What is left that actually has affordable products in it? Bummer is all I can say....

Please do not let this happen! This is my favorite magazine and the only one I save every dingle issue of. I love everything about this magazine, even all the stuff I can't afford. Seriously, this will be very upsetting.

I think it so interesting that the audience here finds Domino to fall under the "affordable interiors" category. A vast majority of it (and the designers they feature) is very high end.

Guess that scripty type looks "budget"!

I'm bummed. I wonder what they'll do with the leftover subscriptions?
A nice canadian mag called Chocolat folded only a few months after it was launched, similar to blueprint I guess...
Ptoo, yes, there were lots of high-end items in Domino, but there were also a lot of affordable pieces. I mean they featured Kelly Wearstler but they also have the under $100 section. I guess people like being inspired by expensive stuff, but also like seeing stuff they can afford. I liked that they often mixed vintage in with new and featured some crafty re-purposing projects (kind of like AT...)

a

DANG IT - I just got a subscription!!

=\ Ad sales should be up at this time of year. You know things are really getting spooky when ad budgets are being cut.

I was totally depressed when Progressive Architecture folded over two decades ago. I totally threw in the towel for shelter mags when Budget Living went under, just as others in the article comments mentioned. Ah well. It's like the AT book says, along with a lot of financial advice columns when advising on how to save money--magazine subscriptions should be one of the first things to go when decluttering your life and your finances. Hate to say it, as someone who loves print pubs, but it's true.

Sadness! I do enjoy Domino, if not quite as much as my favorites Elle Decor & World of Interiors...what I don't like is digs against it here on AT for "girliness." Which apparently for some goes hand-in-hand with "dumbed down."

So let me get it straight: we want cheap, yet with wow factor, and not girly and "dumbed down," without being "exclusive" of any group.

People here aren't hard to please or anything...! In fact, the current Domino has only one out of four featured interiors that could be legitimately labeled "girly".. they just haven't fully embraced the plastic 70s junk... ahem...pared-down, angular modernist aesthetic so beloved here on AT.

Also, good lord, I think we can say the times are officially tough long before we start eating our neighbors (?!?!?).

No need to worry. Domino is not closing and we look forward to sending all of our readers a sneak preview of our incredible December issue next week.
Laura Miller - Senior Executive Director, Corporate Communications - Conde Nast Publications

Laura that is wonderful news and I hope you guys can stay in business for many years. Domino is BY FAR the best N. American homes magazine. I would pay double the price every month and I buy it religiously. Plus I love the online Deco Book feature and use it a lot. Please continue to blaze that trail!

marie516--

Canadian House & Home does exactly that every single month.

angelune--

One "Under $100" feature does not a budget mag make (even Architectural Digest does it), but I get you. I guess I am still reeling from the typical rates (and minimums) of Domino's Top designers.

Onewallkitchen--

Magazines generally work about three months out, so "this time of year" actually falls on most people's 2009 ad budget...

and marie516--

Domino is totally unabashed in its courtship of females, no question. I agree with Mid-C Frank in that respect.

You're Kidding! I just subscribed to support Kayli in her school's fund raising efforts. What are my options now? TIME?

Let's face it...times are tough everywhere. I know that I have let all my magazine subscriptions run out and I'm not re-newing any of them this year. Guess I'll rely on AT to help me with my decorating dilemmas.

Thx for the reassurance Laura. I consistently renew my home design magazines to support them. It is my guilty pleasure. An affordable indulgence. It makes me happy. Blueprint was my favorite, and I also subscribe to O at Home and House Beautiful. Domino has now become my "happy place" mag. I have been faithful since their first issue. Please editors, if you read these boards ... there IS a market and there will be a great gap in that market if the trend continues. I think had we known that Blueprint was on a failing revenue trend, then perhaps more people would have supported it by gift subscriptions and such. Please don't keep blindsiding us ... ask for help when all seems lost.

Thank you Laura! I just KNEW these rumors were untrue. Possible that one of Domino's jealous competitors is spreading vicious rumors for their own gain? After all, Domino is the ONLY home magazine growing .... all of my friends (regular people and designer friends) LOVE IT!! Who needs any of the others anymore???

"What if this little black dress where a room!"

i got tired of that magazine. some good stuff but a lot of fluff and too much like Lucky.

it's basically been made redundant by blogs like AT.

i wouldn't be surprised if it went the way of Cargo.

For those interested in a subscription but feeling a bit gun-shy: if you bought the Domino book recently you can get the sub for free. You send in a subscription card and include your receipt and they send you a rebate. Despite Laura's assurances, you might want to do that sooner rather than later...

I enjoy Domino, but I'm with several other in saying I'll miss it but I'll get over it. Quite expensive and often too fancy-schmancy for my tastes. I *really* miss Blueprint, and their blog is not even close! Thank goodness for AT.

In a strange coincidence- the very day that I read this post I recieved an email from the editor of Domino about giving the "gift of Domino" this holiday season. I replied to the email and voiced a concern about the article from the Observer. Here is the response I received from Deborah Needleman, Editor of Domino magazine:

"Let me assure you that story about domino closing in the Observer is unfounded rumor. Domino is alive and well, and it's full steam ahead around here. I am glad you wrote to inquire, though...."

Well, since Domino is not closing, I hope that their executives, having responded to the posting, will give our comments, positive and negative, great consideration.

I was going to say that perhaps the reason for its demise is the lack of depth in the articles. I happened to peruse an issue of it last night and really felt that the editorial and photographic content was superficial. Frankly, as others have noted, the magazine is dumbed down and focused on females to such an extent that its content repells male readers.

EJBrammer asked how Architectural Digest managed to keep a big following, I think the reason is because the editorial content is well written and the first class interiors showcased there have so many levels of detail that they keep people interested well after the next issue has arrived. AD is effectively a design reference book that few shelter magazines, can or even strive to become. Indeed, most of my copies of AD are dogeared and bookmarked.

I hope Domino doesn't go - I wait patiently for my subscription to wend its way across the pacific to my humble (hell, eeny-weeeny) home.
Yeh, there are a few aspects to it that make me roll my eyes, but on the whole, there are so many fun and kooky things i wouldn't dream of looking at twice unless i see it in Domino (and on AT, naturally!) and i have learned to appreciate new things. Even it if stuff i can't buy here.
And the colour is fantastic - i love the zing of the interiors.
Q: Is there something about an economic downturn that makes everyone think safe colours are best? I'm up to my eyeballs here in Oz with magazines featuring creamy neutral interiors (ick).

ps: I agree with a previous post - less bare feet on the cover!

Ugh, speaking of dumbed down, apparently it wasn't clear that I was pointing out that "girly" does NOT equal "dumb."

AT makes me sick sometimes.

I've got 4 issues left to my subscription, and after that, im letting go Domino and just have the books. The 3 last issues were so boring to me, and there was too much egocentric posh ugliness than simple and nice design.
So if Domino had to go, i dont mind.
I really miss Blueprint too.

I hate to say it, but each month, as I toss another stack of magazines into the recycling bin, I wonder why we still have so many of them. Magazines seem to be 70% ads and each shelter mag seems to have the same ads. Take it to the web, where the ads aren't so in your face on most sites and the ideas can be quickly sifted through.

I love flipping through magazines, but I also love opening my blog reader and going through all the fun posts that have come in since my last visit.

I agree with many of the non-Domino-fans above. Having fewer magazines out there, but of better quality, would be preferable. I actively disliked Domino. Too frou frou, and I wasn't a fan of House and Garden either. Everything so safe, so tame, so repetitive. I'd be very sad if Dwell folded, or even if Elle Decor folded, though the European versions of it are better, and the loss of Vogue Living Australia would actually bother me quite a lot. But Domino, ugh. For me it had zero wow factor and was never inspiring. I think the economic crisis is cutting out the dead wood, and along with it a lot of the toxic inks and lacquers these glossy mags, which I buy far too many of, are made of.

I loved this magazine with a passion. I loved the rooms, I loved the columns, I loved the stuff. This is a sad day indeed!

Thanks God. I was so beginning to hate the fact that I had this subscription to a mag that had morphed into a publication i began to hate. They were so out of touch.

So I hope no one has to eat crow who posted here now that it's true it's closing and gone....

does anyone know which edition of domino is represented in image at top of this post?? i don't have this one and would like to find it.. looks like a goody..

man, when i decided to take some time living under a rock for a year and a bit, i actually thought it was more a pebble, not a boulder (just signed up for internet today lol). country home, too, huh? i wondered why i haven't been able to find h&g in this town. hm.

just got the postcard from Domino saying its subscribers will get Arch Digest instead...oh dear!

does this mean they'll revive the $5,000 apt re-do, or have they?...will they make it one room, $1,000....?
Domino (high end for us lower earners, or this clerk at least), you will be missed !!