Carlijn Potma on Berlin’s most comprehensive magazine store…
Auguststraße—East Berlin’s so called ‘art mile’—doesn’t only host a wide range of art galleries.
It’s also a great place to hunt for rare books and magazines thanks to number 28, which houses Do You Read Me?!, a by-now legendary store offering hundreds of interesting magazines and other reading material.
Graphic designer Mark Kiessling and professional bookseller Jessica Reitz founded the shop back in 2008—at the dawn of the Internet—in order to sell the physical international magazines they personally loved.
The raw and trendy interior is a perfect backdrop for all the literature on display. The L-shaped space is fitted with black walls and a black tile floor, but looks chic and welcoming rather than shady or bleak.
Magazines with stylish covers are tightly arranged on black aluminium bookshelves. Some are laid out on tables made of the same raw wood as the counter or placed in wooden boxes. Due to a lack of space, every corner—in fact every inch of the walls and floor—is used to store a multifarious array of periodicals and books.
Large windows at the front and the back of the shop and rows of ceiling lamps transform it into a well-lit space, especially on sunny days. If you want to take a seat and glance through one of the journals in comfort you’re welcome to use one of the several white Eames chairs placed in the corners of the shop.
The range of subjects on offer spans art, culture, fashion, photography, design, architecture, literature, music, theater, society, politics and business: in all, the shop provides over 700 different titles from more than twenty countries, from well-known periodicals like Vogue, Frieze, AnOther and The Baffler, to alternative and even obscure international ones with compelling titles like Roughcast, Milk and Fare.
In the unlikely event that you can’t find what you’re looking for, the store provides advice and research to help you compile your own personal assortment pf publications—on a regular basis or as a one-off (back issues can also be ordered).
Next to magazines, the store stocks a broad range of arty tomes. The wooden bookshelves, which you can find on the left hand side at the back of the shop, are charmingly chaotic but contain top-notch publications focused on design, art, literature and much more.
And inevitably, Do You Read Me?! organises launch parties, readings and discussions as well. Check their website or sign up to their newsletter for regular updates.