5 Funny Theories for Who Actually Picks up Those Free Real Estate Magazines at the Grocery Store

You’ve seen those glossy, free real estate magazines stacked in the grocery store vestibule, looking crisp and untouched, as if they’ve been waiting weeks for someone, anyone, to take one. Despite the rise of online listings, these booklets somehow keep getting printed, which means enough people must be picking them up to justify their existence.

But who are these people? Are they serious buyers? Nostalgic browsers? Just folks who can’t resist grabbing something free on their way out the door? Considering most serious buyers are refreshing their internet browser by the minute to make sure they see the latest listings on their screen in real time, these brochures have to be getting scooped up by some unlikely suspects.

Here’s a tongue-in-cheek list of people who might just be grabbing them off the rack, and keeping these magazines in business:

1) The Swatter

They didn’t come for a real estate magazine—they came to buy eggs and bread. But now, a rogue bee has decided to harass them as they head toward the automatic doors, and they need something to swat it away.

Fortunately, the free listing magazine becomes the perfect impromptu defense mechanism. Whether or not they actually read it after the battle is anyone’s guess.

2) The Collector

People collect all sorts of things—vintage postcards, antique spoons, fast-food toys from the ‘90s. So is it really that far-fetched to think someone out there has an ever-growing archive of free real estate magazines?

Maybe they appreciate the changing home prices over time, or maybe they just like the glossy pages. Either way, they’re grabbing a fresh copy every month, carefully adding it to the stack, and refusing to throw out old ones because “they might be worth something someday.”

3) The Stealthy Neighbor Dodger

Some people will do anything to avoid getting roped into a 20-minute recap of someone’s cousin’s dog’s surgery. Back in the COVID era, avoiding a chatty neighbor at the grocery store was easy—just mask up, keep your head down, and mumble something about being cautious.

But now? No built-in excuse. Now people have to get more creative. So perhaps the magazines are being scooped up by people when they see the car of their chatterbox neighbor in the lot to be used strategically as a handheld mask they can look engrossed in.

4) Other Agents

They claim they’re just “keeping up with the market,” but let’s be real—they’re checking out the competition. They’re scanning ads, critiquing headshots, and wondering if their own marketing is standing out.

If another agent’s listing looks suspiciously overpriced, you bet they’re mumbling to themselves about how they would never take an overpriced listing. And if they did, they certainly wouldn’t be wasting money on an ad for it in this magazine!

5) The Out-of-Towner

They’re just visiting—maybe on vacation, maybe back in their old stomping grounds. But these are prime targets for the real estate magazine to lure in. They’ll flip through, calculating how much house they could get here compared to back home, and by the time they reach page six, they’ve convinced themselves they could totally move here.

Will they? Probably not. If they do, will they call the agent who advertised in the magazine. Doubtful. But for now, the fantasy is alive.