‘Greet Del Ray’ magazine to be delivered to 6,000+ Del Ray homes starting in February

A new free magazine is coming to Del Ray, and everybody is going to get it.

Since May, Brett Kitchen has been working to launch Greet Del Ray, a franchise magazine with positive local feature stories that he will be delivering to more than 6,000 homes in the neighborhood every month.

The first issue will be delivered to mailboxes in early February, Kitchen told ALXnow.

“I’ve always kind of toyed with the idea of having a magazine, but never really followed through on it,” Kitchen said. “A friend of mine, a realtor, does a version of Greet in Cleveland Park in D.C., and she showed me the finished product and how you know they train you, and you don’t have to put up any investment upfront. All it takes is time getting your sponsorships sold in order to build up enough revenue to create a magazine.”

There are more than 30 Greet magazines in communities throughout the country, including Delray Beach, Florida. This will be the first Greet in Virginia. There are also more than 500 smaller Stroll magazine franchises around the country, with the nearest located in Falls Church.

“I hope to grow this to be a 48-page publication every month,” Kitchen said. “I don’t think people would read anything bigger than that.”

Kitchen lives in D.C., and has worked in public relations in the area for decades. He lately been spending a lot of his time getting new advertisers for the magazine. So far, he’s got dozens of sponsorships from dozens of local businesses, including Pork Barrel BBQ, the Del Ray Business Association, ROAM School of Music, Volunteer Alexandria and Del Ray Pizzeria.

“I do sales presentations, you know, being able to meet total strangers, present your product and make them see if they’re interested or not,” he said. ” I have to get the rest of what they call residual profit of $3,000 a month or the parent company won’t let me go to print. The ad contracts are for a minimum one year at a time, and the maximum is three years. Most of my clients have signed on for three years. I just hit my $3,000 mark.”

Kitchen is looking to find freelance contributors to the magazine.

“My impression is this a very cohesive community,” he said. “The groundswell of support I received from the business owners is incredible, especially from Bill Blackburn, Lauren Fisher, Pat Miller and Gayle Reuter. And anytime I talk to a resident, everybody’s been very receptive to the idea of what is going to feature and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this would be great for the neighborhood.’ It’s a very happy, friendly place.”