Australian Newsagency Blog

I was in a major shopping centre yesterday and could not find a newsagency. It seems the landlord decided to not renew the lease some months ago and has not let space for a newsagency since. The only outlets for magazines are supermarkets, Big W and newspapers the supermarkets and coffee chains. Lottery products are sold from a kiosk, cards are in several outlets and stationery is, well, everywhere.

All that is missing is the newsagency shingle.

I wonder what this says to newsagents about how their businesses are viewed by major shopping centre landlords. I wonder, too, what it says to consumers - do they miss a newsagency in the centre, are they being trained to shop elsewhere?

I also wonder how newspaper and magazine publishers feel about this. There was a time some years ago when a newspaper publi9sher would not allow their products to be sold in a shopping centre where a newsagency did not exist.

Is this the newsagency of the future? Extinct? I don’t think so, certainly not broadly speaking. I suspect this is just a rogue landlord.