After four decades Family Circle magazine closes

For more than four decades its glossy pages have been a mine of beauty tips, knitting patterns, recipes and breezy reads aimed at the middle-class British homemaker.

But today the UK publishers of Family Circle, which once had an apparently unassailable position amongst supermarket titles, announced the magazine is to close, citing plummeting circulation.

Despite recent attempts to update the monthly magazine, sales had suffered because it no longer catered for the tastes of the modern woman and it was no longer relevant to modern family life, its publishers admitted.

Having failed to innovate successfully, the publishers were faced with the choice of pumping more cash or accepted that the readership, of which 93 per cent was female with an average age of 52, was in danger of dying out.

The threat from the internet and the arrival of a clutch of new magazines with added celebrity content helped to make up their minds in pulling the plug.

When International Thomson Publishing sold the title to IPC in 1988, it boasted a circulation of 625,000 - making it the top women's monthly - but the figure has recently dropped to 112,597.

"Family Circle in its heyday was one of Britain's biggest selling monthlies but sales have been in decline for some time" said Jackie Newcombe, the IPC SouthBank managing director.

"Despite numerous attempts to reinvigorate the title, the time has come for us to accept the market has moved on.

"Rather than continue to invest in this title, it is with much regret that we have to conclude that Family Circle's future is untenable.

The magazine has around a dozen staff who are expected to find work on other in-house titles. The final issue of the magazine will be the December 2006 edition."

Behind the magazine's homely content was a shrewd business plan agreed by its previous owners that drove sales for many years.

Family Circle and its sister title Living benefited from an exclusive arrangement with supermarkets and for many years they were the only magazines available at the check-outs.

ITP also published book spin-offs from the magazines covering topics such as slimming, cooking, crochet and sewing.

But it lost its stronghold when publishers began to explore distributing their titles though supermarkets.

A further blow came when German publisher Gruner + Jahr launched Prima in the UK in 1986.

Within a few years the magazine claimed to have overtaken Family Circle as the UK's best-selling women's monthly.

IPC still holds its own in the general interest consumer sector with titles such as essentials, Ideal Home, Woman and Women's Own.

Earlier this year Family Circle launched a campaign to ban non-essential additives in children's food.

The May issue featured Jamie Oliver who made a small piece of publishing history by becoming the first man to appear on the cover.

Editor Karen Livermore said at the time it would help the magazine "keep more in touch and relevant".

The cover image also paid tribute to Oliver's campaign to improve school dinners, saying "our readers are concerned about food, nutrition and what their kids are eating."

- INDEPENDENT