Decline of corner newsstands reflects digital challenges

For the past few years I have been a regular customer at the street corner newsstand in my northern Beijing neighborhood. Twice a week, I buy several digest newspapers that collect articles from print media, and less frequently, I get cartoon books for my young son.

The vendors, Lao Wang and his wife, seemed to have been doing a brisk business as they stocked a full range of print. On the sidelines, they sold a wide range of products from phone cards to drinks to lottery tickets. They open at about 6 am and close after 10 pm, except in the winter.

So I was taken aback a couple of months ago when I saw a notice on the side of his booth that it was for "the changing of hands". The newsstands are usually reserved for the city's jobless residents who often lease them to people like Lao Wang from other areas. Unless a tenant can find someone to take over, he stands to lose tens of thousands of yuan in the stock and "transfer fee" to the original owner.