The following is a section of ITMB (International Travel Maps & Books) monthly newsletter about us. The full newsletter can be viewed at ITMB Newsletter 6 of 2018.pdf
“One of the real success stories coming out of the debacle caused by the Great Recession of 2007 to 2012 is the evolution of Guy Johnson Maps into one of the great map publishing ventures of modern times. The Great Recession was devastating for the map industry. The recession hit the United States hard, fast, and brutally. Long-established firms like Map Link and Treaty Oak fell apart, dragging down dozens of publishers with them. Well known publishing houses like American Map Company, Hagstrom, Mapsco, and Thomas Brothers floundered and the echoes of their passing devastated the retail map industry as well as the publishing industry. With few exceptions, the map publishing industry was wiped out in America by the recession. It was a brutal time; something scarring everyone in business at that time. Sure, AAA maps survived, as did National Geographic, thanks to membership fees, and Rand McNally survived as a brand name, but without its cartography or printing operations. The situation in Europe went through some dire crises as well, but I want to focus on the North American reality because, out of the devastation, regeneration emerged with a vengeance only in this part of the world.
Demand for printed paper maps did not suddenly disappear with the advent of the Great Recession. This is important to emphasize. The recession caught many American map publishing and distributing firms with their pants down: heavily indebted to banks, over-extended in production capacity, carrying far too many slow-paying accounts, over-staffed with far too many high-paid executives doing far too little (Map Link in particular) and asleep at the corporate wheel. Customer demand didn’t evaporate, but the supply side disintegrated almost completely in America and very quickly, leaving a huge vacuum. New firms did not emerge to fill the gap created by the collapse of publishers and distributors alike. ITMB was able to re-build its distribution system inside the USA, but within the USA no one emerged as a savior. What happened was that someone already in the trade, with vision, came to the forefront, realized an opportunity, and invested heavily in brand new artwork, believing in the basic fundamentals of never-ending demand for paper maps by the buying/using public.
GMJ Maps, based in Vancouver, Canada, started receiving fairly urgent-sounding requests from jobbers (those wonderful souls who provide maps to truck stops, convenience stores, and gas stations all over America). I remember Guy telling me about one call, from a jobber in Chico, California, hoping that Guy could supply him with a city map of Chico. “Sure” said Guy “how many?” Guy was floored by learning that he needed 60,000 folded paper maps right away and a further 60,000 in six months’ time. Further calls came from Rand McNally, AAA, and other big buyers as well as several local jobbers and the resultant orders for millions of copies of paper maps kept Guy’s staff busy for the next several years, developing maps of hundreds of cities all over the USA, benefitting ITMB in the process, as we distribute GMJ maps. Most Rand McNally maps are now GMJ Maps under the Rand cover; ditto for AAA, or are marketed by those firms under the GMJ cover. This is a revolutionary change from pre-2007 reality!
Anyone who thinks that paper maps are over-the-hill and past their due dates had better not get into a discussion of that subject with either Guy or myself. Last year, Guy submitted a proposal to AAA (the American Automobile Association) and CAA (its Canadian counterpart) to provide both organizations with paper travel maps for the next several years for a wide range of Canadian cities and provinces, as well as continuing to supply US titles. Their acceptance has moved GMJ into the forefront of map publishing in North America. At a time when most other publishing firms are contracting, shutting down, or stagnating, GMJ is expanding steadily. Brand new artwork for Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and cities in between are coming out faster than I could have imagined to be possible. New distributors are coming forward in the Maritimes, in BC and in between. Institutional buyers, such as AAA, BC Ferries, and Rand McNally outlets now fill their display shelves with GMJ artwork. Just this week, new maps of Ontario and Manitoba were released. I predict that GMJ will need to expand their warehouse in the near future! ITMB distributes the GMJ map line, and all titles are listed in our web store (I’ve lost track, but there are about 600 titles published so far). Check out our web site for the latest titles!”
In addition we were again written about in the ITMB Newsletter 1 of 2018.pdf
The article is titled “A SMALL REVOLUTION IN THE MAPPING INDUSTRY”.