It’s 3 p.m. at…the Magazine Store in Soho
Welcome to “It’s 3 p.m. at…” a fun new column here at Very Famous Inc. where we report on that late afternoon hour when the day has been determined in one way or another. It’s sort of the opposite of the witching hour, a hazy limbo where you just want to sit and stare somewhere. We’re doing just that — sitting and staring somewhere. To begin with, it’s 3 p.m. at a magazine shop (and convenience store!) in lower Manhattan…
New York City might be the only place in the United States where a convenience store selling nips of Southern Comfort and Swishers is also home to a spiral-bound fashion magazine curated by Gucci. It is, for that reason alone, very special. As even bookstores are getting rid of their magazine sections or paring them down, it is a rare feeling to walk into a convenience store selling hundreds of fashion and art and culture magazines — really, just magazines. It is even more rare to be in the company of shoppers involved in the making of those magazines. New York City baby! Here’s what was going on there around 3pm EST.
~ Outside the door, someone in a shiny black trench coat sits calmly reading a magazine on an empty planter.
~ Inside, a frustrated person in a matte black trench is on the phone staring at the rows of magazines. “You don’t misspell someone’s name in a print magazine, it’s my luck this would happen,” they tell someone on the phone as they start walking around the store. “Ok, bye, love you.” They call someone else immediately after, “My shoot is out with that actor, and they misspelled my name.”
They repeat this phone call two more times, adding to one call, “This is a global mistake.” They announce that they’re melting to the last person they’re talking to on the phone and leave.
~ A grey-haired, handsome British man asks for a certain brand of menthols, which they don’t have. He then asks for American Spirit Golds, but when the cashier tells him they’re $16, he leaves without a word.
~ “Bacon, egg and cheese? For you?” One guy behind the counter offers another.
~ Another price incident happens about, I think, an issue of National Geographic. A man approaches the counter and asks how much the issue is. The cashier tells him $20. He tells the cashier that he was, in fact, in last week when the employee gave him a different price. “How do you know the price if it’s not on the magazine? You should have signs,” the man says.
~ I walk past a magazine that advertises their Palm Beach issue, which seems comfortingly dull in its magazine-ness. They still have things like a Palm Beach issue!
~ Someone walks in and asks for vanilla extract, but they don’t have it. He tries to figure out where he can get it and walks out.
~ Three friends walk in, take truly three seconds of a look around at the magazines, and declare, “OK, I’m good!” One friend reaches for something about Virgil Abloh but seems to decide against it.
“Let’s go girls,” one friend commands the group.
