This week in CLASSIC KIT CARS & SPECIALS Steve Hole looks back at the history of the EXCHANGE & MART. Every Thursday used to be ‘Exchange & Mart Thursday’ as enthusiasts and car dealers rushed to get to that week’s bargains first … the publication has quite a history.
The EXCHANGE & MART can trace its history right back to 1862, when it was founded by publisher William Cox. He’d bought another magazine called ‘Queen’ which was a woman’s magazine that had a buy and sell column within it called ‘Exchange & Mart’ and its strapline was: ‘From an autograph to an orchid, a toy to a typewriter, find it in Exchange & Mart’
It was Cox who had the foresight to launch it as a standalone monthly publication, which literally took off in sales terms. By 1868, it was a weekly, appearing every Thursday. Cox was based in an old potato warehouse in Covent Garden, London.
It was definitely the first buy and sell newspaper and paved the way for the likes of Loot, which came along much later.
Exchange & Mart changed hands quite a few times, first in 1926 when it was bought by a rival called Bazaar, where it stayed and grew. In the sixties it became part of the Daily Express Group, which also included Link House Magazines publishers of a stable of magazines including Custom Car, Cars & Car Conversions, Superbike and Kit Cars & Specials,a lthough there were many others and not just automotive either.
I believe that during those Daily Express says E&M reached its peak weekly sales figure of 350,000 copies each and every week! Amazing numbers.
In 1999, it was purchased by United Advertising & Media and in 2005 by Northern Echo parent, Newsquest, who also bought a sister title called Auto Exchange, too.
Exchange & Mart ceased publication of the traditional paper edition in 2009, although rather than disappear it has continued to the current day online. In September 2018, they celebrated its 150th anniversary with a limited edition eight-page paper edition published as supplement in the Northern Echo (I think).
Online only since 2009 – visit www.exchangeandmart.co.uk
So, there you have it. The potted history of a publication that is a household name for millions of people. I shudder to think just how many cars have been sold via Exchange & Mart over its incredibly long history.