When I was asked to write to this blog yesterday, the first thing I did was to check out the new CHIP magazine. Off I went to MidValley, braving the lunch crowd that I detest. I was just going to grab the copy of CHIP and get away. Going off the walkalator from the basement parking, I went straight to the newsagent-cum-moneychanger that was first to be seen. Searched high and low but couldn’t find the mag.
Asked the Indian guy manning the till. He just shook his head and muttered ‘Takde‘.
Heck, what gives?
Let’s look again.. surely the big MPH store at the Centre Court will have. After all it’s supposed to be the flagship bookstore. I went there, straight to the magazine counter. Yup, plenty of magazines all around including IT and tech magazines. Again, I could not find a single copy of CHIP at the shelves. Not a single one…
Either (a) they were pulling my leg (maybe.. the CHIP guy was grinning when he told me about the offer to write here) or (b) their distribution is really lousy (it was past mid-month mind you)
Or could it be that the competing mag publishers conspired to keep CHIP mag off the shelves? Left them lying at the warehouse or somewhere on the floor in the back office? Think about it: CHIP has been absent for more than six months, they must be happy right? Bigger piece of the pie and all that. So when CHIP re-emerged and aim to recapture the top spot, surely they felt threatened.
There’s only one way to find out. I stomped to the management office and banged the manager’s office, demanding an explanation.
The lady in the tudung seem taken aback and just look at me blankly. I bet she was trying to come up with excuses. After what seemed to be an eternity, she opened her mouth.
“Sorry, takde“
I remembered that the CHIP guy also said that every single copy of the 1st issue come with a free pack of 4R photo paper. The value of that alone is more than the mag’s cover price. That’s it: they have nicked the freebies!
“Better tell me the truth… what really happened”
“CHIP sold out lah. Like goreng pisang, especially with the keyboard free gift“
” Ish, you mean photo paper?”
“That also. Those who bought the magazine in this store got both the keyboard and the photo paper. Aa aah, the free CD also. Now finished – out of stock.“
Diary of the Dead dvd Darn… those lucky buggers must be coming out from MPH grinning. That was a super duper promo, no wonder all copies were sold out.
Hang on a minute. Why didn’t the CHIP guy told me about these promo? Otherwise, i could have been the one smiling and grinning. Something is not right here and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.
The photo paper came with the mag, it’s with the CD inside of the colour, not to be visible at outside though..
But, i also went Mid Valley MPH yesterday, Tuesday.., and i did saw CHIP Mag copies at there though..
I think the photo papers should hiding osmewhere inside the mag though.. You can try Mynews.com and others news stand..
Hi Ian. Ahh great.. that MPH’s lady in tudung must have taken note of my piece of mind
Good response.
Yes, I am staying at Johor. I agree with Ash Report that it is very hard to find stall selling Chip in JB. If someone from Chip read this message, I really hope that you can ‘show’ your magazine in some of the famous bookstore in M’sia, such as Popular, Harris, MPH or Times.
Cheers
supposed you ask the Chip to take more features and make a D.I.Y pages for newbies.That can attract readers.They are many people that eager to the D.I.Y resources including me.And,nice work on Chip March edition.
Over here in Bintulu it’s even harder to find the mag. Been missing quite e few issues now. Just bought the Cicakman issue and I notice some changes. It’s like most of the articles are being translated direct from from the German version, or is it? Don’t know how long has it been like this but it feels weird. I like the earlier version better.
I notice there’s a change in management, but can’t they just stick with the old style? Even the cover is less appealing now.
Anyway, Chip has always been my choice coz mostly it reviews products that’s available locally. Of course Ebay is just a click away for anything that you can’t find in Low Yat…
I usually buy my CHIP at the local 7-11. However, it’s been a few months since I saw a copy on the news stand there. Maybe they need to hire a manger in Sabah to help distribute it here lah.