Where are they now? Or: Whatever happened to the class of ’94?

For the past eight years, Catalog Age has profiled at least 40 new catalogs each year. But what happens after they launch-how many of the new catalogs make it? To find out, we put together a five-year class reunion of sorts: We contacted (or tried to contact) all 40 of the new catalogs we had profiled in 1994. Nearly one-fourth of the class-nine catalogs, to be exact-are no longer in existence, and we were unable to track down the whereabouts or fates of another nine catalogs. But the class of ’94 has its success stories as well. Among the books that we profiled that year: Collectors’ Choice Music (part of the $77 million Playboy catalog division), Bags & Bows (now part of New England Business Service’s $297 million empire), and $176.2 million b-to-b software book Programmer’s Paradise. Below, we get up to date with these catalogs and their classmates.