Family Circle


Family Circle was an American monthly magazine that focused on home and women's topics, published from 1932 through the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was included as one of the "Seven Sisters," a group of seven traditional "women's service" magazines centered on household issues, along with Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's Day, and Redbook.

History

Family Circle began publication in 1932. It was initially distributed for free at Piggly Wiggly supermarkets, until it was offered as a freestanding publication in 1946.
Cowles Magazines and Broadcasting bought the magazine in 1962. The New York Times Company bought the magazine for its woman's magazine division in 1971. The division was sold to Gruner + Jahr in 1994. When Gruner + Jahr decided to exit the US magazine market in 2005, the magazine was sold to the Meredith Corporation.
From 1973 to 2015, Family Circle was the title sponsor of the Family Circle Cup women's professional tennis tournament on the WTA Tour, which was held at its namesake Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina starting in 2001. At the time the sponsorship ended, Family Circle was the longest-running title sponsor in professional tennis.
In November 2009, Family Circle launched their social network Momster.com for moms of tweens and teens.
In October 2019, Meredith Corporation announced that Family Circle would cease publishing after its December 2019 issue. At the time, the publisher reported the magazine had 13 million readers, more than 1 million followers on social media, and a circulation of 4 million. As part of the closure, about 25 Family Circle staffers would be laid off, while others would take jobs at other Meredith publications.

Editors