The Old Magazine Store

$ 5 posters! But that’s not the only reason why my 16-​year-​old son and I loved visiting this store. The owner, Bob, is a pleasure to talk to and truly loves what he does. We spent a lot of time in the poster room, with mostly small but wonderful reproductions of every kind of poster– maps, illustrations, movies, magazine covers– all just $ 5 each, no matter how big. Also, among the shelves and shelves of old magazines, Bob searched and found exactly the issue of a magazine we wanted as a gift for my husband. I look forward to returning when I can spend a couple of hours browsing and chatting with Bob, who is wise, open, and a talented writer himself. Actually, I think meeting him was a meaningful experience for my film-​buff son. We’ll be back!

This place is pretty great! If you’re looking for vintage posters /​ads for your place look no further. Bob is great for ideas and a good talk. Worth the check out!

I’m not a big fan of store owners who immediately ask, «Have you been to our store before? No? Well, let me tell you about…» I’m not a dummy. I don’t need the backstory. I know what I’m looking for.
I forbore it anyway, because I was potentially excited to find something of interest. When the spiel was finished I asked hopefully, «Do you carry any pulps?»
The man actually harrumphed. «We don’t carry pulps. They’re too flammable.»
I looked around at the almost floor-​to-​ceiling lengthed shelves filled with thousands of old, rotting newspapers and magazines and the hundreds and hundreds of flags and posters mounted on the walls and thought: «Flammable? Huh. Not like any of these things at all.»
And then I left.

I really like this place!!!
I have been there several times to buy flags and posters. The owner is very nice, knowledgeable and helpful!

Probably one of the last remaining stores like this. Bob is a very nice and friendly guy who will show you around the store. Also, the posters are 10 dollars for large and 5 for small and they have just about every category!

I’m sure this store is awesome for what it is. I’m sure it has valuable items and can find you what you need.
BUT… The store recently participated in the Downtown Skokie Trick or Treat for kids on Saturday, 10÷25÷14.
The kids danced in and yelled, «trick or treat!» And they were met with a cranky man who refused to give them candy until he did his sales pitch to their parents about what his store contained.
Now, I know the point in participating is to advance your business profile in your town, but 1) the kids were 8 and under and really just wanted a small tootsie roll 2) the parents (myself included) were severely turned off by the sales pitch and the fact that we had to stand there and listen to him before he would give candy, thus making our already impatient and irritated kids higher maintenance, and 3) HE COULDN’T REMOVE THE BIG CHUCKIE POSTER FROM EYESIGHT UNTIL AFTER THE KIDS WERE DONE???
Maybe take one for the team next time, smile big and fake it until after the 4 hour event is up. Or next time, don’t participate. I want to support local shop owners, but I can’t get behind this shop. I will take my business elsewhere.

I absolutely LOVE this place!!! My kids LOVE this place. It is a treasure trove of history, unique items and you can completely lose track of time there is so much to see. I highly recommend you stop by!!!

The other comments do a good job of covering the history of Bob and his shop. This is an amazing place. I give it five stars, but I do have some gripes as I’ll outline.
This was my first time and it is completely overwhelming! Budget time to explore!
Bob seems to specialize in three things: magazines, flags, and posters. He has flags for every nation and I spied at least one handsome Chicago city flag on the wall, but mostly these are overwhelmed by magazines and posters.
About the store:
I love old magazines and I’m partial to posters, but navigating the store is near impossible. The shelves are overstocked making the majority of the inventory inaccessible. I understand he relocated here from a larger location, but I wish the store was 50% as full. Sometimes less is more.
About the magazines:
Sadly, the magazines aren’t setup for browsing. They are in unwieldy horizontal stacks and Bob discourages «self service» of the magazines. (Which makes sense given their orientation, you can’t «dig» through the collection without displacing other magazines.) Bob seems to prefer to search for you, which means you have to know approximately what you want when you go in. This is my biggest gripe with the store and I hope this will change.
For instance, Bob has thousands of car magazines — many from the golden age of auto journalism in the 50s and 60s. It would be fun to thumb through the collection were they organized vertically like at a record or comic book store, but that’s not possible, so I had to completely skip the collection.
As a collector I found many of the titles I’m interested in priced out of my budget. Bob seems to encourage special event buyers — people shopping for a birthday gifts where budgets aren’t as tight rather than people (like me) looking for a bargain. For instance, I like Heavy Metal, but Bob has these priced at $ 30 and more each. He’s quick to point out that he has many other titles which are more affordable. His MAD magazines from the 80s and 90s were discounted. He also seems willing to make deals for multiple purchases or with serious buyers, so its worth bargaining directly with him.
I’d be remiss if didn’t mention the gigantic collection of vintage Playboy, Penthouse, and other adult magazines — there is an entire side of the store which isn’t kid friendly, but fascinating nonetheless.
As access to the magazines is haphazard, I spent the majority of my time thumbing through posters, so I’ll comment on that.
About the posters:
On my visit Bob made it clear that he wants the posters gone. The isles are overflowing and he has drastically slashed prices. Large format movie posters were $ 10, small reproduction posters were $ 5. Both were buy five, get the sixth free. This is hands down the cheapest place in the entire region to stock up on posters.
His collection is divided between movie posters and smaller format reproduction prints.
–Small Posters:
The «Recession Room» is actually the most organized section of the store where reproduction prints are sorted by theme. Wonderful little automobile adverts, WWI & II propaganda, fashion and advertising prints. For my significant other, who teaches middle school history, it was a chance to stock up on educational prints she could pass around her class. This is very cheap way to get some interesting prints on your walls.
When I say small, I don’t mean tiny — these posters are good sized and suitable for framing. I believe they are mostly 11×15″.
–Large Posters:
The vast majority of these are promo movie posters from the 80s, 90s, and 00s. These are very unexciting. If you’re looking for a poster for Mrs. Doubtfire or some other mediocre 90s flick, you’re in luck. It’s like going through the movie poster bin at Blockbuster. Having said this, it’s not all bad, there are some real gems here. I spied plenty of real movie theater posters and some first run prints. Bob has lumped in a few high priced items with the $ 10 stuff, so look carefully! There is also a small collection of Rock-​n-​Roll posters.
In addition to movie posters there are educational, scientific, and history posters which are more interesting. Here you’ll find a map of the solar system, a poster of historic battleships, the Bill of Rights, etc. These are the type of posters you may have had on your wall as a kid or would have encountered in the classroom during the 80s or 90s. These are a great resource for teachers and fans of nerdy info-​graphics!
Summing Up:
Bob is a warm character. Kind, knowledgeable and clearly in love with his trade. My hope is his store evolves into a browser friendly environment.

Bob’s Magazine Museum is an has an incredible collection of magazines, posters, flags and more. Not only is the store incredible in it’s depth and selection, but you will get to meet Bob, one of the most interesting and intelligent people you’ll ever meet. He will be able to pinpoint any periodical, even any article, available in his selection within seconds.
My husband and I are both teachers and I love knowing that Bob’s Magazine Museum exists for both myself and students. Any type of educational assignment will only be enriched by a visit to Bob’s Magazine Museum.

Wow! That other review was quite the exhaustive biography.
I love stumbling (and/​or staggering) into places like Bob’s Newsstand. Bob himself was an interesting, dashing character behind the counter, his store was filled with the most incredible collection of vintage magazines I’ve ever seen, and everything was organized well.
The theatre-​sized movie posters were reasonably priced and the vintage print collection in back was amazing and quite random.
If you want WW2 era propaganda posters, Bob has them. If you want dreamy-​eyed starlets from the Silver Screen, Bob has them. If you want hilariously inappropriate beer and cigarette ads from the first half of the 20^th century, Bob has them.
But most importantly, Bob has stories. If you are a story buff, or at all interested in the tumultuous local history of Chicago, Bob is the man to talk to. He’s written several books about his experiences and talks about times gone by freely.
Go visit him, or sit in on one of the poetry nights he hosts every week.

Well what can I say. As soon as I stepped foot into Bons Newsstand, I was blown away. I am 22 years old and most of the stuff was printed way before I was born. Every nook and cranny is something compared to a walk in time machine. They have magazines, news articles, editorials rom as far back as one could imagine. So if you are looking for old magazines, or maybe dont know what you are looking for, I gurantee Bob will have it.

You know that feeling when you meet a complete stranger and have the most intellectual, life-​changing conversation that leaves you with an inexplicable urge to turn around the millisecond you walk away? Bob’s Newsstand DEFINES that.
Originally opened in 1965 in Hyde Park when Robert Katzman was only 15 (formerly known as Magazine Memories), Bob’s is a little shop packed with thousands, LITERALLY THOUSANDS of vintage magazines, posters, periodicals and even flags from every nation and boxes of buttoms that read: «Kiss me, I’m (insert country here)». From Life, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker all the way to Rolling Stone, Playboy, Sports Illustrated… take a little adventure traveling through time — I promise that you won’t regret it.
Small posters = $ 5 or buy 5 get the 6^th free
Large posters = $ 10
Magazines prices vary… depending on the decade and type of magazine.
Walked out of this shop with 6 small posters (3 of them were 1920s-​30s ads of Budweiser, PBR and Shlutz while the other 3 were vintage posters from Europe) and 2 larger ones (Mrs. Doubtfire and Pulp Fiction).
Mr. Katzman also sells all 5 of his non-​fiction books about Chicago from a street-​level point of view… exploring violence, crime, love, grit, determination, friendship, carpentry, Judaism and revenge. Read his Chicago stories at no charge at
.
Be aware that the magazines are old and WILL fall apart if you just casually flip through them… which is why you’re not allowed to. And he doesn’t have an electronic inventory of them either but the place is VERY well organized so prepare to treasure hunt!
If you’re one to appreciate vintage print, this place is a MUST!!! You’d be surprised by just how many hours go by rummaging through print galore.