About Lebensart

Lebensart

Lebensart im Norden is a free monthly lifestyle magazine for Schleswig-Holstein and the Hamburg metropolitan region, published in Kiel by the Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein GmbH. Appearing at the start of every month in six regional editions with a combined circulation of 130,000 copies, it addresses readers aged around 35 and above who, as the publisher puts it, stand in the middle of life socially and culturally and actively shape their leisure time. With thoroughly researched reportage, knowledge features, service pages with concrete tips and addresses, and stories from the region, Lebensart covers culture, leisure, travel, health, enjoyment and living in the north. Distributed free of charge at more than 750 display points per region, from owner-run shops and upscale restaurants to doctors' practices and travel agencies, it is one of the highest-circulation regional magazines in northern Germany.

Overview

Lebensart appears monthly and is aimed at an adult, affluent readership: people aged about 35 and up who participate actively in the cultural and social life of the region and choose deliberately among the leisure opportunities on offer. The magazine's programme combines interesting news, well-researched reportage, well-founded knowledge and exciting stories with service pages offering concrete tips and addresses. The topics span the pleasant side of life in the north: culture and events, travel and excursions, food and drink, health and wellness, living and lifestyle, people and portraits.

The magazine is published in six regional editions, each combining a common editorial core with regionally tailored content. The editions cover Flensburg, Nordfriesland, Schlei, Schleswig and Angeln; the West Coast with Dithmarschen and parts of Nordfriesland, which appears three times a year; Kiel, the Probstei and Eckernförde; Neumünster, Mittelholstein and Rendsburg; Hamburg West with the Elbvororte, Pinneberg and Itzehoe; and Hamburg Nord with Lübeck, Norderstedt, the Alstertal and Walddörfer and Ahrensburg. Across all regions the magazine reaches a total circulation of 130,000 copies, distributed at a minimum of 750 display points per region.

This distribution model is the magazine's defining economic feature. Lebensart is free to readers: it appears at the beginning of each month and is laid out in places its target group frequents, including owner-run shops, banks, upscale restaurants, hotels, wellness oases, boutiques, doctors' and pharmacies' waiting rooms, opticians and travel agencies. The magazine thus reaches its readers in moments of receptivity, when they have time to browse, and it offers advertisers a precisely defined, regionally segmented audience of active consumers with above-average purchasing power. The model is classic for the German regional lifestyle-magazine segment, and Lebensart executes it at a scale few competitors in the north can match.

The editor-in-chief is Hanna Wendler, who leads the editorial team from Kiel. The imprint of the January 2026 issue names Gesa Schimmer and Kathrin Wesselmann as the managing directors responsible under press law, with Kassian Alexander Goukassian as publisher. The publishing house is the Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein GmbH, based at Exerzierplatz 3 in 24103 Kiel, in the city centre of the state capital.

History

The precise founding year of Lebensart im Norden is not publicly confirmed in the sources consulted, but the magazine has been established in the Schleswig-Holstein media landscape for well over a decade, with digitised issues on document platforms reaching back to at least 2022 and the publisher's regional edition structure long since mature. It belongs to the Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein, a Kiel-based publishing house specialising in regional magazines and publications for the north.

The Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein GmbH has its roots in regional publishing for Schleswig-Holstein, producing magazines, special-interest publications and corporate media from its Kiel offices. The company's earlier imprints listed an address at An der Halle 400 in 24143 Kiel, in the city's southern commercial district; the more recent imprints give the address as Exerzierplatz 3 in the city centre, suggesting a move of the publishing house within Kiel. The publisher Kassian Alexander Goukassian and the long-serving managing director Jörg Stoeckicht shaped the title through its growth years; the 2026 imprint names Gesa Schimmer and Kathrin Wesselmann as managing directors, indicating a generational change in the company's leadership.

Over the years the magazine has expanded its regional footprint. The six-edition structure, with the special case of the West Coast edition appearing three times a year rather than monthly, reflects the publisher's adaptation to the different advertising markets of the region: the Hamburg editions tap into the metropolitan market, while the Schleswig-Holstein editions serve the state's distinct sub-regions from Flensburg to Lübeck. The total circulation of 130,000 copies represents the matured scale of this model.

The magazine's visual and editorial presentation has evolved with the times. Recent issues show a modern lifestyle-magazine design with large-format photography, a mix of in-house and stock imagery, and a clear service orientation. The January 2026 issue, for example, was built around the theme of fitness and health for the new year, from the best fitness studios in the north to the topic of good hearing, illustrating the magazine's blend of lifestyle inspiration and practical service. The February 2026 issue was announced with themes of camping and caravanning, nature and careers, showing the seasonal rhythm of the editorial planning.

Content and Sections

Each issue of Lebensart combines the core sections of the regional lifestyle magazine. Reportage and feature stories form the journalistic heart: thoroughly researched pieces on topics from the region, from hidden treasures and excursion destinations to cultural phenomena and local personalities. The magazine researches intensively, in its own description, to deliver well-founded knowledge, exciting news and practical tips that enrich readers' everyday lives.

The service pages are the magazine's practical backbone. Concrete tips and addresses accompany the editorial content: where to eat, where to stay, which events are worth attending, which providers to trust. This service orientation is what makes the magazine valuable to its distribution partners as well: a reader who picks up Lebensart in a travel agency or a boutique finds information that connects directly to consumption decisions, and the advertisers around the editorial content benefit from this proximity.

Thematic specials structure the publishing year. The magazine regularly devotes focus sections to seasonal and lifestyle topics: cycling routes in the north for the spring issue, fitness and health for the new year, camping and caravanning, careers and professions. These specials give the advertising sales team defined environments and give readers a reason to pick up each new issue. The "In der nächsten Lebensart" preview pages tease the coming issue's themes, a standard instrument of the free-magazine segment to sustain reader loyalty from month to month.

Culture and events coverage connects the magazine to the region's cultural life: from local event highlights to portraits of cultural institutions and protagonists. The Hamburg editions extend this coverage into the metropolitan cultural offering, while the Schleswig-Holstein editions concentrate on the state's festivals, museums, theatres and landscapes. Food, travel, health and living complete the thematic mix, always with a regional anchoring that distinguishes Lebensart from national lifestyle titles.

Publisher and Organization

Lebensart is published by the Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein GmbH, a Kiel-based publishing house specialising in regional media for the north. The company's address in the 2026 imprint is Exerzierplatz 3, 24103 Kiel; earlier imprints listed An der Halle 400, 24143 Kiel. The publisher (Herausgeber) is Kassian Alexander Goukassian, and the managing directors responsible under press law (V.i.S.d.P.) are Gesa Schimmer and Kathrin Wesselmann, reachable through the publishing house's Kiel telephone exchange. The editor-in-chief is Hanna Wendler, who heads the editorial team at redaktion@verlagskontor-sh.de.

The editorial organisation reflects the six-edition model. Alongside the editor-in-chief, the imprint lists a central editorial team for supra-regional content and regional editors and authors assigned to the individual editions: names such as Anne-Kristin Bergan, Dr. Heiko Buhr, Marion Laß, Mirjam Stein, Maya Schukies, Sebastian Schulten, Isabelle Sester and Natalie Zahnow appear in recent imprints, alongside layout staff, photographers and a dedicated advertising design team. The advertising sales are organised by region, with named sales representatives for each edition area, from Hamburg to Flensburg, a structure that mirrors the magazine's regional segmentation.

The business model is the classic free-magazine model: the magazine is financed entirely through advertising, with no copy sales and no subscription revenue. The currency is reach within a defined target group and defined regions: 130,000 copies per month, at least 750 display points per region, a readership of active consumers aged 35 and above. The publisher also offers media data and further information for advertisers, and the Verlagskontor Schleswig-Holstein produces additional publications beyond Lebensart, making the magazine the flagship of a regional publishing house.

Digital Presence

The website lebensart-sh.de is the magazine's digital home, presenting the title, its regional editions and the publisher, with a "Wir über uns" page describing the magazine's concept and reach. The site is in German and aimed at readers and advertisers alike: readers find information about the magazine and its distribution points, while advertisers find the publisher's contact details and media data.

The magazine's issues are also distributed digitally through document platforms such as Yumpu, where complete issues can be browsed page by page, extending the free print distribution into the digital space. This presence gives the magazine's archive a digital afterlife and allows readers outside the distribution area to access the content. The publisher's site verlagskontor-sh.de presents the company behind the magazine.

The digital strategy is consistent with the free-magazine model: the website and the digital issues serve as a shop window for the print product and as a contact point for advertisers, while the print magazine remains the core product that readers pick up each month at the distribution points. For a regional lifestyle magazine, the essential digital task is to be findable and to present the title credibly to potential advertisers. With 130,000 copies a month across Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, Lebensart im Norden remains one of the most visible print media of the north, in print at the start of every month and online every day.