Here I am with Mark Moran who is the publisher of Sarnia’s uniquely nostalgic magazine – Welcome To The Club! I help with the magazine by visiting local businesses to see if they are interested in advertising in it and I also drop off copies to pick up points across Lambton County – and boy, the response is always amazing. Readers and advertisers love this wonderful local magazine. Everyone I talk to just wants to open it up and give it a read. Like my mom said, you start reading and it gets you thinking back to some past memories of the good old times. It just feels good when you read it! It’s funny, it’s nostalgic, interesting and packed full of great local information, events and happenings and seniors discounts.
Welcome To The Club appeals to a pretty large demographic – 55+. It’s a magazine like no other you’ve ever seen and it is fabulous!
Mark and his group work really hard to keep ‘YOU’ in mind with every page that is printed. They are dedicated to getting every last copy into the hands of people who will read it and hang onto it for weeks if not months.
I sat down with Mark to ask him why? Why a retiree/seniors magazine? Why now? This is what he had to say,
“We’ve published Daytripping, a Southwestern Ontario magazine for over 25 years with great success. During this time we’ve built up a library of nostalgic articles from regular folks along with countless funny fillers, recipes and more. Many readers and contributors have been seniors, so much so that I’ve had to make sure that Daytripping didn’t get typecast as a seniors magazine. I’ve been dying to repurpose this incredible wealth of material for a different audience for well over a decade. Now we’re finally doing it – Welcome To The Club. It is a magazine for ages 55+ unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
The Club has very little in the way of news. There is no political or religious opinion. It works to inform people of what local organizations offer and has some local content, but for the most part it is easy to read nostalgic articles, fun fillers, recipes and the like. Countless people have told me that they read Daytripping from start to finish and many read it more than once. My idea was to replicate this success and primarily for people to get informed through local advertising. We want to give readers a reason to hang onto The Club for weeks and even months. It is filled with discounts, recipes and such and an events calendar and local restaurant listing will also be built up over time.
The Club comes out 4 times a year, March, June, September and November. We started distributing 5000 copies in January 2021 and our distribution has doubled to 10,000 copies. If you can’t find a copy give us a call or let us know on Facebook and we can tell you where they are at or get one to you. People 55 and up grew up with magazines and still love to sit down and relax with one. It covers Sarnia and surrounding areas including downriver, to the Petrolia/Wyoming area, Forest, Camlachie and Brights Grove . As we did with Daytripping, we ask our readers to send in their stories and make this paper their own.
I’ve spent well over a decade researching this idea and can assure you that this is the most unique seniors publication I’ve ever seen by far, because of the 25 years worth of personable contributions from hundreds of readers.
“Welcome to The Club” has been an instant hit with our readers and advertisers. It’s FREE to whoever wants to read it and it started right here in Sarnia-Lambton.
This magazine is about to make good news. Which we all need a little more of!
You can read it online at www.welcometotheclub.ca
Living In Lambton is about sharing! Positive messaging builds up our community and it takes all of us to make our community shine! You can help support everything local – sign up to get Living In Lambton by email or you can follow Living In Lambton on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. Don't forget to SHARE - your friends will appreciate it!
Comments