Calabasas Magazine plans national expansion

The bright red lips of TV star Jaime Pressley may make it hard for even avid readers of Calabasas Magazine to notice the change in this month's cover. But at second glance it's easy to see that the publication's title has changed. It will continue to evolve over the next two bimonthly editions.

In the current issue, the banner "Calabasas" remains with the word "Statement" in smaller text below. On the April/May cover, the words will switch places and the city's name will be reduced in size, eventually disappearing from editions outside Calabasas.

Publisher Richard Bleiweiss said the new name was chosen because of what the two-year-old magazine represents: a statement.

"We choose to raise our families in a certain area," Bleiweiss writes in the February/March issue, ". . .develop friendships with certain people, drive a particular type of vehicle, travel to carefully selected destinations, wear certain clothing and lead a lifestyle that most people would love to share. In short, everything we do in life makes a statement about who we are."

But Bleiweiss said the title will be the magazine's only change; content will remain the same.

"When we started, we wanted to showcase the upscale lifestyle of those in the West San Fernando Valley," Bleiweiss said. "But if you flip it open, nothing in this magazine is really about Calabasas. The reason we chose the name was because we wanted to sound upscale, but it was never going to be about Calabasas."

The name change is part of a fullfledged nationwide expansion, he said.

"What happened is that the magazine has grown and we built this celebrity-filled lifestyle magazine, and we have found that people all over the country and world have been requesting it," Bleiweiss said.

Calabasas Magazine was built to be a directmail publication, and currently goes out to 75,000 homes in "upscale areas" from Studio City to Camarillo. When Bleiwess decided to try it out on newsstands in Southern California and in New York City's Manhattan Island, he said the result was encouraging.

"The magazine took off on newsstands beyond our comprehension," Bleiweiss said. "Now we are selling at a pace with a percentage that rivals some of the largest magazines out there."

The plan is to expand the publication's bookstore availability from Southern California to all such outlets in the country. Statement will be sold at newsstands and augment direct-mail targets to Pasadena, Burbank and the South Bay region, as well as similar demographic areas in the United States. Bleiweiss said he's currently in talks to open the magazine internationally.

"There have been a lot of magazines popping up in various communities over the last few years," Bleiweiss said. "The content is extremely localized. They're put on racks in coffee shops or left in stacks- it's a quick read with your coffee.

"We wanted to create a magazine that people want to keep on their coffee table, read over and over again, and respect the level of content we put into it," Bleiweiss said.

The publisher said he is confident that Statement will not lose readers during its changeover from Calabasas Magazine.

"The readers are all over," Bleiweiss said. "There are only 7,500 homes in Calabasas, yet we go out to 75,000 homes. The one question that pops up every now and then is, 'why would I want to read Calabasas Magazine when I don't live there?' It's not about the city; it's about the lifestyle it represents."

Bleiweiss feels confident the magazine's national, regional and local advertisers won't be disgruntled over the change.

"I don't expect them to back off," Bleiweiss said. "If a local store was featured on national television, I'm sure they'd be thrilled by it, and it's basically the same thing."

Although the content will remain the same, the advertising packages will change as the magazine expands to different regions. "I won't go into a region without enough regional advertising support," Bleiweiss said.

The transition will be complete with the August/September fashion issue, but the Calabasas name may remain on issues distributed locally.