For almost three years I was owner and only employee of Print Matters!, a store in Zurich for independent magazines and books. Originally the brand was founded in 2015 as a pop-up shop with different locations all over Zurich. When the founders decided to give it up in 2018 I took over and built its first permanent store with the help of a crowdfunding. While the pop-up store had a very limited selection of magazines, the new store had a much bigger selection including books, prints and postcards. Apart from the new physical store, Print Matters! launched a new website including the entire range of goods and international shipping options.
Some of my tasks included:
Curating/Buying magazines & books
Managing social media channels & newsletter
Accounting
Customer Service
Marketing & Graphics
THE STORE
The furniture of the store was designed specifically for the rooms at Hohlstrasse 9. All of them were made with the same white glazed sea pine plywood. The benches and desks were made multifunctional to be used for events such as concerts or readings. The apartment-like space was divided into two rooms: the big main store and the back room with chairs and books inviting to linger. Plants and carpets made it feel like a living room rather than an ordinary store. During its three years of existence the interior slightly changed as stock got bigger. The pictures below give you an impression of what the store looked like.
EVENTS
The physical store was not only a shop but also a location for local events. In the first year multiple events such as small concerts, book/magazine launches and readings were held in the space. Each event was unique, attracted different crowds and gave the space a different personality. The pictures below show some impressions of the events that happened before COVID-19.
PROMOTIONS
Almost every two weeks a Newsletter was sent to 2000 subscribers. In it you’ll not only find information about the products but useful things for our customers.
Find an example of a full Newsletter here.
PRESS
Print Matters! was the only physical store for independent magazines in Zurich. Thanks to this uniqueness the press wrote about it frequently. Below is a summary of the articles written about Print Matters! from 2019 - 2021.
Wingo, 12.07.2021 #unfiltered: Der Wingo Podcast – Folge 12 mit Maurice Müller (Inhaber Print Matters!)
NZZ Bellevue, 27.04.2020, Jocelyne Iten Maurice Müller von Print Matters!: «Erotik- und Reise-Magazine boomen – dies fehlt uns gerade ja am meisten»
Tagesanzeiger, 13.12.2019, Annik Hosmann «Es gibt nicht viele gute Magazine aus Zürich»
NZZ Bellevue, 27.02.2019, Linda Horber Zürcher Startup «Print Matters!» geht in die nächste Runde
Tsüri, 18.05.2019, Lea Keller Print-Matters-Eröffnung: «Print wird nie verschwinden»
Hochparterre, 05.06.2019, Frederic Poppenhäger Print Matters!
45RPM, 05.06.2019, Lea Keller «Print wird nie verschwinden»
Lumos, Elena Oberholzer Print is not dead – Der kleine Hype der unabhängigen Magazine
Persoenlich.com, 24.03.2019 Was Print den Leuten wirklich bedeutet
Zett, 24.07.2019, Andrea Zeller Slowing down in a world of print
The instagram account turned out to be one of the most important marketing tools for Print Matters! As I started to focus on informational instagram stories and content to help people find out more about the magazines the amount of followers quickly grew from 3’000 to 7800 followers within 2 years. Working with paid promotions supported the sales during holiday seasons such as Christmas and Valentines day. Visit the instagram account printmattersstore to see more.
