What's Hot What's New

The good, the bad and the ugly. You'll find them all here. Each week you'll get my take on the intriguing, and sometimes peculiar, titles to recently hit the newsstand.

Dream Lofts & Condos Cover Price: $12.95 www.meredith.com Dream Lofts & Condos is the newest addition to the Meredith family. This latest installment of the Dream... specials line narrows the home category even more. No longer are there magazines strictly about house design or decoration; niche publishing now produces magazine on porch design, bathroom decorating and other ever shrinking niche titles. This subsection of the housing category is a beautifully done new magazine full of the art and presentation Meredith does so well. But don't think you will get the photography, ideas and presentation of this title without forking out a hefty price; you can take this 164-page beauty home for $12.95.

Gift Shop Cover Price: $10.00 www.giftshopmag.com The American Dream is fueled by success stories of "the little guy." For all the gift shop little guys out there, here is a title that may make you one of those success stories. From the publishers of Specialty Retail Report comes "fresh ideas for retailing success." Not only does this new launch give gift shop retailers information on what products are selling well across the country but it also highlights gifts shops from coast to coast. So no matter the size of your store, picking up Gift Shop may help boost those profits just a little higher.

Ultimate Weaves & Extensions Cover Price: $4.99 Finally! A magazine devoted entirely to hair extensions. I don't know how long I have waited to see 100 pages of hairstyles for fake hair. Despite the somewhat strange unique selling feature, this new quarterly is well done with step-by-step pictures and instructions on how to achieve the look you desire. The design is bland overall but has flashes of quality in several of the spreads. It's not a title for me, but the folks at Braids & Beauty must have seen an audience.