A lot can happen in a year, and local resident Takara Swoopes can surely attest to that! In May 2021, Swoopes and her family of six were packing boxes in their Hawaiian home as they made plans for a big move to the north Alabama area.
A year later Swoopes and her family are not only happy and settled in the area, but they have a not-so-little creation to show off to the community that they guarantee is here to stay and bring big smiles.
Meet Huntsville Magazine, Huntsville, Alabama’s flagship print and digital lifestyle publication, which provides readers with a guide to dining, entertainment, the arts, and local trends and businesses.
Topics regularly featured include neighborhood profiles, weekend getaways, interviews with interesting residents, restaurant reviews, and shopping and retail spotlights.
The first edition hit shelves and mailboxes in early June 2022, and because it’s a quarterly publication the next edition will be ready to flip through in September. Copies are available at select locations around north Alabama, though your best chance at (and cheapest way of) snagging a copy is to subscribe to receive your copy right to your mailing address.
I first met Swoopes at a Chamber of Commerce event; She was bubbly, confident, and kind, and I was so excited to meet her after seeing tremendous praise and chatter around her first publication of Huntsville Magazine.
She thankfully had a copy on hand that she gifted me, and I couldn’t wait to flip the pages through my fingers and devour the content. As an avid magazine consumer, I am drawn to publications that are thoughtfully laid out, aesthetically pleasing, and full of both entertaining but also helpful content.
Huntsville Magazine checks all of those boxes, so it only made sense to subscribe to receive the next few editions at home. It’s attractive enough to sit on a coffee table while also informative enough to be considered a substantial guide to the area. Takara and CJ have knocked it out of the park.
If you did a double-take when you saw that Huntsville Magazine just published its first edition this summer, you’re not alone.
“Doesn’t Huntsville already have a flagship magazine?”
Swoopes wondered the same thing, which is how this entire venture came to be.
“The idea was created in my kitchen in Hawaii while I was washing dishes with my husband,” she laughs.
“We were discussing our upcoming relocation to Huntsville, and I mentioned that the first thing I wanted to do was look up a Huntsville magazine.”
She continues to share that she naturally assumed that the community would have what she was looking for considering the tremendous growth of the area in the last couple of decades.
She and her family have lived all over the globe, and she says that local magazines have always been a tremendous resource for her family as newcomers.
“City magazines serve as a compass for the city, and though they aren’t always intended for newcomers, they usually have relocation guides included.”
She says that she was floored to discover that Huntsville was lacking the type of magazine she was looking for, which was a print publication that would share not only helpful tips for navigating the area, but also a wide variety of business reviews, behind the scenes features, and much more.
Swoopes says that her professional background and experiences in digital media, web design, and other creative avenues naturally lent themselves to creating a magazine like this, so it didn’t take much time to decide that she and CJ wanted to fill the hole they saw in the market.
Swoopes was again shocked to discover that all online domain and social media handles were available for Huntsville Magazine, and she couldn’t have been more excited.
Takara, CJ, and their four children purchased a home after doing a few virtual showings, got unpacked as fast as they could, and immediately dove head first into creating the most well-rounded first edition that they could.
“We decided that our first strategy would revolve around creating our digital platform,” she explains, so they worked on creating HuntsvilleMagazine.com to serve as the online hub for what was to come.
“We then began interviewing small businesses and getting a good idea of the landscape here,” she says. “We wanted to be absolutely sure that Huntsville even needed a magazine.”
All lights stayed green as the Swoopes family continued their venture of getting Huntsville Magazine off the ground.
The website first launched in January 2022, and then in late May, the first-ever print copy of Huntsville Magazine arrived in their mailbox.
“I’ll never forget my daughter getting it out of the mailbox,” she says with a laugh as she recalls the fond memory of a dream realized.
Swoopes says that the response to the first edition has been overwhelming in an incredibly positive way.
“There’s a reason magazines, in general, are still on the shelves,” she says. “They create community and connection, and people love good stories!”
She continues to elaborate on the content that readers can expect within Huntsville Magazine, saying that it will cover the Huntsville metro area and the north Alabama area at large.
She says that they’ll have a series in every edition that breaks down flights that leave directly from Huntsville.
“We want to show you your options where you can hop off a plane after one flight and you’re there!”
Huntsville Magazine will also have a series that spotlights surrounding cities within a 3-4 hour drive and delves into day trip or weekend trip itineraries and ideas.
In general, the bulk of Huntsville Magazine‘s content will cover topics within local proximity to north Alabama residents.
“This city deservedly won the best place to live,” shares CJ. “People here know how awesome it is, but a lot of people who are new don’t understand yet just how much the city has grown.”
He says that Huntsville Magazine hopes to be of interest to readers of all ages and backgrounds and showcase all of the incredible happenings as north Alabama continues on a fast track to growth in all areas.
They’re also interested in hearing from readers and learning about what they desire to see fill up the pages.
“Is there a neighbor doing something amazing or a restaurant that has amazing food with exceptional service? We want to know! I’ve been a small business owner before, and I’d love to spotlight these amazing people and places.”
Swoopes says that emailing her and CJ here is the best way to submit editorial ideas.
One of the most unexpected surprises since publishing the summer edition has been the two-way conversation it’s created.
“Readers immediately began calling us 3-4 times a day just wanting to chat about the magazine and its content,” shares CJ. “Every afternoon for a month, the phone would ring multiple times, which gave me a chance to chat with people all over.”
He learned that readers aren’t just in the north Alabama area but are also subscribing from cities from all over for one reason or another.
CJ says that he’s enjoyed learning how people were using their copies of Huntsville Magazine, and especially enjoyed hearing from a father who wanted a copy to put in every one of his daughter’s wedding gift bags.
{Author note: That’s brilliant!}
Though bulk copies can be requested online, copies can also be found on shelves around the Huntsville metro area, including Barnes and Noble at Bridgestreet and Jones Valley. For a full list of where copies can be found on shelves, click here.
“Every amazing city has a flagship magazine that tells the stories of its people, businesses, event, restaurants, and all of the other amazing things happening,” says Swoopes. “And this is Huntsville’s.”
Subscribing to Huntsville Magazine is a cinch, and it makes a really sweet gift too! Subscribing today means that you’ll be the first to receive the September edition, but if you’d like to grab the summer edition, add that to your total too and you’ll have it in your mailbox within days!
If you do subscribe, make sure to use the code “ALL THINGS” to receive 20% off your one-year subscription!
Quick Links for Huntsville Magazine
Website | Click to Subscribe | Facebook | Instagram | Where to Find the Magazine | Email the editors
USE CODE “ALL THINGS” FOR 20% OFF A YEAR-LONG SUBSCRIPTION!
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