Southern Wisconsin News Inc.

General information

Welcome to Southern Wisconsin News, distributing the very best in printed media entertainment! We specialize in prompt, efficient delivery of quality magazines and books throughout the region, providing retailers a turn-key solution for selling mass-market periodicals.

Robert Purnell Sr. founded Southern Wisconsin News in 1933 by acquisition of the local distribution of the Chicago Tribune newspaper for the Edgerton, Wisconsin area. For many years, Bob faced numerous uphill battles to sustain and grow the newspaper and magazine business; most notably through his absence while serving as a pilot during World War II. Robert’s grandson Tom Purnell, current owner and President, often muses that “For a considerable period of time, he received his products by train and delivered newspapers out of the sidecar of a motorcycle and ran longer routes across Wisconsin from an old Army ambulance and various panel trucks. It was his work ethic, his persistence and dedication that continues to carry our third-generation family business forward into the future."

Over the past eighty years, we have grown exponentially into a dedicated staff of book and magazine professionals serving over one thousand retailers a week, large and small. Southern Wisconsin News now operates out of two Wisconsin facilities, Edgerton and Appleton, and has over 25 full-time trucks on the road.

Our Service team members will consistently deliver a sensible selection of bestselling periodicals that will provide all the titles you need in reasonable quantities. We serve the retailers needs above that of anyone else. Our customers know that they’re getting the very best in customized in-store service and title selection, exactly as they want it. It’s our guarantee, “If you can find better service elsewhere, take it”.

CORE SERVICES
Pre-weekend deliver all weekly titles such as People, Us, Sports Illustrated, the National Enquirer, and Star. (In most areas)
• Twice a week delivery (In most areas)
• We perform regular distribution reviews
• We service all retailers, large and small
• Full support of EDI (electronic data interchange)
• We provide our clients with custom-built wooden fixtures to effectively display their books and magazines
• Demographics of each retail outlet are met with the desired products through careful analysis of category performance and title sale history.

ENHANCED SERVICES
-Total Category Management
-Rack service in most areas
-Cutting edge periodical distribution software
-Full time merchandising professionals focus on efficient and quick, in-and-out service
-Fast reaction to customer needs, title sellouts, and special requests
-Local market evaluations to determine optimal title distributions
-UPC updates and price change information is sent weekly and can be sent electronically, cutting data entry time.
-Complete RDA reporting
-In-Store training of staff
-Weekly Reorders of Top Selling Paperbacks
-Top 20 Paperback Best seller list
All of these services assure that our clients will have the competitive advantage they need in today’s retail environment.

KEY INITIATIVES
Southern Wisconsin News’ team members participate in various industry initiatives that seek to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the periodicals industry as a whole, the retail environment we operate within and our local community. Examples include: Efficient Recycling of unsold copies. electronic Data reporting, Publisher Price tests, Industry Study groups, New data systems evaluations, Mentoring programs, GPS Vehicle Routing System, Contributions to community groups and Hiring the handicapped.

PROMOTIONS
Our customers don’t want to be bombarded with promotions that gather dust. We carefully choose our promotional offerings so that they are items that actually sell and don’t need to be returned to us for credit.

Over 3000 different Magazine titles!
All National and Regional magazines including People, Us, Womans World, Enquirer, Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health and many others. Categories include Women’s Titles, Sports, Automotive, Craft, Food & Cooking, Regional and hard to find specialty titles and many others.

Thousands of Paperbacks
Including all monthly “Best Sellers”. Categories include Fiction,
Novels, Romance, Reference, Westerns and many others.

Children's Books
We have all of the kids favorites Coloring and Activity Books. As many or as few as you want.

Bargain Books
Deeply discounted books for the whole family. Promoted three to four times per year, in and out. Always a new selection of quality books with high consumer value.

Promotional Products and Shipper Units
Promotions are carefully planned and of high value to your shoppers. May include non-traditional items like Baseball Cards or seasonal novelties, or Best selling books, New and Hot titles, Puzzle Books, Hunting or Fishing titles, Cooking, Health & Fitness.