I’ve written about magazine stores before, about how the overflowing amount of titles on display, the remarkably specific nature of all of them, and the feeling of library anxiety that greets me when I think about all these people publishing all these magazines every month. How do any of them sell? How do any of these things make money?

In fact it’s becoming rather clear that a lot of print isn’t making so much money at all. The book industry is in some sort of crisis, newspapers are dying, and magazines aren’t having a great go of it at all, either.

So it’s encouraging to hear about new magazine shops opening up, ones devoted entirely to the idea of reading and buying those magazines that make the format worth it in the first place. It’s even better when the focus of these stores is largely on design and art magazines, which are some of the best and most tangible reasons to still be picking up print-based… well, anything. A well-curated magazine will still provide you with more solid information in one sitting than most of our hyperactive, ADD-inspired internet surfing can in a few hours.

A new Berlin shop has just launched with exactly this idea in mind. Called Do You Read Me,and definitely not just another overflowing magazine store, this is a highly curated shop designed with you in mind. Go there, browse, sit, read, explore, and then buy.

It was recently featured on one of the New York Times’s many blogs, and has me on the lookout for something even close to this nice here in Rome. Some of the shop’s better features include Eames chairs for lounging while you read, and no shrink-wrap to speak of. You’re free to browse and read all you want before buying.

There’s a lot to be said for specialization, in my opinion. Going into a massive bookstore and finding its massive magazine section doesn’t lead me in any direction, and doesn’t help me find what I want to find. The shelves are bursting, and somehow the inherent value of each title is diminished through the very overstocking of that particular section. That’s why the layout of this store is so appealing: minimalist shelves with great spacing, and wooden tables featuring mouth-watering stacks of what are surely interesting titles. It’s reason number 4,058 to book a flight for Berlin.

From the shop itself: “We provide a subjective selection of beautiful, sapiently written, well crafted magazines in the scope of art, culture, fashion, photography, design, architecture, literature, music, theatre, society, politics and business. We look forward to compiling, together with our clients, the most beautiful, most interesting and most innovative magazines available from around the globe.”