About 1,000 of the 3m copies of this week’s Charlie Hebdo issue depicting the prophet Muhammad are likely to be available in the UK, with WH Smith among the retailers refusing to change its normal policy of not stocking the French satirical weekly.
Those wanting a copy of Charlie Hebdo’s first edition since last week’s terrorist attack on its Paris offices, in which 12 people including eight of the magazine’s writers and cartoonists were killed, would be best trying newsagents specialising in foreign language publications or independent bookshops.
One specialist newsagent told the Guardian on Tuesday they had been fielding hundreds of inquiries about this week’s edition, due to be published on Wednesday. However, it is understood that it could be Friday in some cases before it is available.
Only about 30 copies of Charlie Hebdo are thought to be sold in the UK in a normal week. UK magazine distributor Comag is understood to have increased this to somewhere between 700 and 1,200 copies for this week’s special edition, which will be printed in 16 languages.
A spokeswoman for Comag declined to comment, but a senior magazine industry executive with knowledge of the situation told the Guardian: “I think the number is being boosted to something like 700 to 1,200, a lot more than usual but nothing like the numbers the French community in Britain is demanding.
“My understanding is [Charlie Hebdo] is trying to put most of the 3m [copies] into their own market.”
London is sometimes described as France’s sixth biggest city, home to an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 French nationals, but despite the demand, Charlie Hebdo’s content is perhaps too much of a risk for the major retailers to consider stocking.
WH Smith, one of the UK’s largest sellers of magazines, has no intention of approaching distributors about stocking the title.
“It is not a title we normally stock, so it won’t be available in our stores,” said a spokeswoman for WH Smith.
A spokesman for Morrisons said it had not been approached about potentially stocking the title.
Other major retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. However, it is not expected that any of them have plans to stock the magazine.
Big name retailers may consider it too risky to stock such a provocative title. Last summer, a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators forcibly removed what they said were Israeil-linked products found in a Sainsbury’s store in Belfast.
“I can’t see the major retailers and supermarkets looking to stock it, what would they do, put it in a black bag or something to avoid offending some customers?” said a press buyer at one UK media agency. “Everyone has been saying ‘Je Suis Charlie’ but there has been a lot of shying away from publishing the cover of the next issue, let alone its cartoon content. It is probably too controversial for the main players.”
Nevertheless, there are still a number of specialist newsagents and book stores looking to get their hands on copies for their customers.
A representative of Good News on Berwick Street, central London, told the Guardian that it has had a “hundred [people] a day” asking for a copy of this week’s issue, which features cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
“We will be selling it on a first come, first served basis when we get it,” said a member of staff at the French Bookshop in South Kensington, which is one of a number of shops hoping to stock the magazine for the first time. “We can’t usually get it because the distributor normally doesn’t distribute it in the UK, but because it’s a special edition we’re hoping we can.”
Covent Garden’s M2 newsagent is hoping for at least 10 copies, with “lots of people asking” when it will be available as they usually only stock six.
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