The long days of summer have us in search of and enjoying a variety of experiences. Music festivals, action-packed movies, summer cuisine, fun fashion and various other outdoor activities and yes, road trips. Holidays provide more leisure time for these activities and magazines are a great resource for our passions, providing inspiration, information and ideas.

While there is no doubt that we’re consuming media differently today than we did even five years ago, there remains the tactile love of something you can roll up and throw into a beach-bag and not worry about whether it’s going to survive the sand and water. As we travel into the dog days of summer, here’s a look at some of the best reading for relaxation.

What does that mean for magazines at retail? Like most things, and magazines in particular, they need to be seen to be sold. With all of the varied interests and options for magazines, it is difficult at times to give all of them front and center exposure. Exposure necessary to sell copies. Often magazines that may not be as well known, or may not appeal to the person displaying them, may get relegated to the back. Lucky for some of these magazines, however, they have a loyal following and fans will seek out the new issue.

Merchandising magazines at your store? Shaking up your magazine merchandising at times and changing up the display to include a slightly different variety of titles at the front of any rack, while still keeping within category, could spark shopper interest. Typically, when changing the display, the old magazine will come out and its replacement is merchandised in the exact same spot. Visual change and interest suffers with this practice, however. By changing up what your shoppers see on the mainline may attract them and spark a new interest. It is just smart practice, therefore, to take out the older magazine within any category, move back remaining magazines that still have a few weeks on sale and place the new magazines in the front. You will gain more exposure for each title, create some new fans and likely gain more sales as a result.