Update 7/12/17: Since the publication of this article, TOMO Mags has closed its storefront location on West Alabama. The magazine shop will continue to host pop-up events throughout the Houston area. For more information, visit the TOMO Mags website or Facebook page.
By Josh Inocéncio
Walking into TOMO Mags on West Alabama Street in Houston’s Montrose district, you encounter the city’s only magazine shop that is both an artistic incubator and community sanctuary at once. Situated on the strip that includes Siphon Coffee and The Argyle League, TOMO Mags offers a range of niche magazines—including local publications on architecture, photography, and design—that you cannot typically find in corporate hubs like Barnes & Noble.
“Mainly, the first requirement for TOMO Mags is that the magazine is an independent publication—something that is not part of this conglomerate of publishing,” explains Vico Tadeo, who co-founded TOMO Mags with his husband, Keiwing Chong. “The purpose of a magazine is to capture what’s going on in our culture right now without offering a definitive viewpoint or answer.”
The revitalization of print offers an escape from our digitally-focused world. Photo by Josh Inocéncio.
The curation of the magazines on the shelves, Tadeo points out, is organic and shifts throughout the year depending on the topics that are in season. When I stopped by in April, TOMO Mags mostly featured fashion magazines from around the world, but Tadeo was preparing to launch a new section on architecture. To stay current, Tadeo also travels to the Los Angeles and New York book fairs each year to collect materials that he brings back to Houston.
But even as TOMO Mags draws in national and international names, the shop maintains a decidedly local flavor with several Houston-based publications, including Spot, which is based at the Houston Center for Photography, Iris, which covers fashion and style, and Rice Paper, which explores Asian-American life in the Bayou City. Rice Paper is particularly special to Tadeo because the founders of the magazine were inspired by TOMO Mags to launch their publication. As TOMO Mags’ website says, part of the shop’s mission is to “motivate and fuel creativity within the community.”
Beyond Houston, TOMO Mags has also featured publications from across the South, including the New Orleans-based Momma Tried and the Savannah-based Aint-Bad.
Prior to opening their current brick and mortar location in November 2016, Tadeo originally launched TOMO Mags out of a converted bus in which he traveled around Houston to sell magazines. Inspired by a similar concept in Japan, Tadeo decided that, for a magazine shop to thrive, he would need to take it directly to the residents of Houston. “We didn’t want to sit around waiting for people to come to us, especially for something so unique,” Tadeo says. “So, we went to art galleries and events [around town].”
Originally founded as a mobile magazine bus, the Houston humidity forced Tadeo to quickly change his business model. Photo courtesy of TOMO Mags.
As the summer humidity kicked in, however, Tadeo had to rapidly change his bus business model, as magazines would warp within 15 minutes of being exposed to the heat. Thus, they opened a studio space on Hawthorne Street for the weekends, which included a coffee bar and artist project space. The popularity of TOMO Mags eventually led to their permanent location on West Alabama.
Despite our digital age where many readers turn to the Internet for articles and visual stimuli, Tadeo remains undeterred in the relevance of and need for a magazine shop. “A few years back, I wouldn’t have seen a need for a hardcopy shop,” explains Tadeo. “But I feel, subconsciously, that we’re moving out of the cycle where we fell in love with digital because there was a novelty to it. At work, you’re in front of a monitor. Signing up for a bank account, you’re in front of a monitor. Now, there’s a little escapism to hardcopies. No pop ups, no Facebook, no hateful comments. That’s why print has really come back and art book fairs have blossomed. You avoid algorithm ads and find something totally new in the magazines.”
The Montrose storefront also provides an accessible space for local artists and writers to showcase their work. Photo courtesy TOMO Mags.
Alongside selling independent magazines, TOMO Mags provides an additional space for visual artists to showcase their work or for writers to do readings. “We like sharing our space,” Tadeo says. “We mostly feature Houston-based artists and typically do one-artist shows so that they can develop a full concept for the space. We’re now having directors from MFAH and other galleries coming in and checking out what we’re doing.”
By featuring Houston artists, publishers, and writers, TOMO Mags is providing a space where people can connect through their work, and even forward their careers. But beyond this, TOMO Mags is also a unique sanctuary for the community, especially as LGBT bookstores and similarly themed locations have closed down over the years. “A motivating force for us is that we’re part of a community that’s very creative and across the spectrum of gay, straight, everything” says Tadeo. “We’re not a gay bookstore, but this is a place where you’re welcome and can express yourself as you like. We’re building a community that’s open to everybody.”
For more information, visit tomomags.com.
