Sales talk:
The stage-by-stage easing of lockdown restrictions has certainly made life more tolerable and enjoyable but many businesses have found that trade and custom are taking time to return to 'normal' let alone pre-Corvid levels. A particular area where recovery is, shall we say, varied is 'high street footfall'. As I mentioned last month, the sudden absence of retail outlets had a marked effect on Backtrack sales figures and thus revenue, which in turn were persuasive factors in the decision to make necessary economies by cutting the print run and temporarily reducing the size of the magazine from 64 to 48 pages. As I said I would, I've been looking at the question of returning to the former or remaining for the time being at the latter, in conjunction with our magazine distributor at Warners Group.
The distributor is keeping a careful watch on the retail situation and reports that the principal retailers were trading at 40% of pre-lockdown levels, a figure which has only now edged to 50% with a much lower figure at railway stations where outlets have been slower to reopen. Clearly retail sales are taking time to recover and indeed it is yet to be established whether they will go back to previous levels at all. The imparted wisdom is therefore that it might be premature to return BT to 64 pages just yet when circulation figures and the revenue derived from them are still uncertain and I have to concede, though reluctantly, that this is a valid argument at the present time. Thus I feel that BT will have to stay at 48 pages just for now but I can say that the January 2021 issue will be at the full 64 pages as a seasonal end-of-year reward to you loyal readers and thereafter the situation will continue to be closely reviewed. So support your local newsagents!
And now for the end of the beginning, let's delve again into the Pendragon Archive...