Periodicals, a new brick-and-mortar shop on the corner of Grand River and Warren in Detroit, deals in magazines. But this is not your grandmother’s tabloid rack.
The building itself is unassuming, with minimal signage, and no storefront display window. The front door is set into a black brick wall. But anyone curious enough to step inside is immediately hit with warmth: warm scents, warm lighting, and the soft flipping of pages.
That warmth was inspired in part by the care and mutual respect among the staff at Olu & Company, a PR agency housed in the same building. Aleiya Olu is a partner at the agency, and the owner and founder of Periodicals.
“But [my inspiration] was also this sort of ritual I had when I was really young,” Olu said, “of being in my room, and curling up with the magazine, and having, you know, all my little creature comforts around me. And just feeling really good and excited to stumble across something fresh.”
Designing a space for discovery
The cream-colored walls, stainless steel fixtures, and velveteen bench cushions bring forth a clean, modern look. There are about 200 different magazines on display, covers facing outward, in no particular order.
“Everything is living together in harmony,” Olu said. “The idea is for people to come in and sort of just discover what's on the shelf. I didn't want to categorize it, you know, by fashion or architecture. I just wanted the shelves to be completely discoverable.”
Two alcoves nestled into the front wall offer shelves of “creature comforts” that Olu associates with a cozy bedroom: body lotions, tinctures, perfumes, candles, and skincare. Their scents blend and fill the shop. There’s also a selection of stationery and writing tools.
Olu recalled a group of students who came by on a day Periodicals happened to be closed. She opened the doors after seeing how disappointed they were that the doors were locked.
“They were picking up all kinds of stuff,” Olu said. “And I encouraged them to just, like, pull things off the shelves like, you know, spread magazines out. Really dive in before you decide, you know, what you want.”
Magazines as a vehicle for new ideas
“When I was really young, my dad bought a subscription to this magazine for me called Suede magazine, and it totally changed my perspective,” Olu said. “It let me know that, like, I really did want to do something in art and culture.”
Suede delivered Olu’s introduction to figures like Basquiat and movements like Afropunk. Later on, publications like Teen Vogue, Vibe, Adbusters, and The Source clued her in on what was happening in politics, music, and design.
So much American-based media, Olu said, can tend to focus on hubs like L.A. and New York, but smaller cities that aren’t so bright on the radar – cities like her own hometown of Detroit – are “where subculture really happens.”
At Periodicals, readers can find stories printed in Japanese and Arabic. They’ll also find copies of Air Afrique, a London-based magazine dedicated to Afro-diasporic culture, and Spike Art Magazine, a publication based in Berlin.
“My favorite magazines,” Olu said, “Are the magazines that really focus on lesser-known characters who have a really strong impact.”
Keeping print alive
Olu insisted that print is not dead, but it’s certainly seen some difficult seasons. Throughout the pandemic, Olu & company saw some clients’ publications shutter, sometimes with little notice.
“For us, it’s really important to make sure we're, like, continuing to feed the industry in whatever way we can, because writers have so generously spent time and written beautiful stories about our clients,” Olu said. “And so I think while there is this feeling that print is dead and that print is dying, there's a lot of energy in the industry. There's a lot of people who just really love doing this.”
Through Periodicals, Olu continues to keep the spirit of organic discovery and idea making alive through every aspect of the shop, from the design, to the inventory, to the shop’s own marketing. When Periodicals first opened, Olu & Company chose not to deliver any press releases about the space.
“It was just really important for us to have sort of organic storytelling around the space, because it sort of goes back to this really taking in an idea that, no matter how small, no matter how significant or insignificant, just taking an idea into your care,” Olu said. “I think that is really the point we wanted to land on when we opened Periodicals. It really is about continuing to build this culture and to build this community in Detroit around magazine lovers.”
