Newsstands and news dealers occupy a nostalgic corner of modern urban history . Some news dealers and newsstands are seasonal and shut down in winter months. The small kiosks often lack insulation, and space heaters may not provide enough warmth during the most frigid weeks . Most, though, stay open throughout the year. As mentioned, most of the businesses classified in this industry are small single-proprietor establishments. However, larger chain and franchise operations are becoming more common. The physical establishment can be either a freestanding kiosk or part of a larger structure (e.g. a shopping mall or a railway station). On street corners in New York City, for example, they are tiny structures of steel beams and aluminum siding or roofing tin; and require a city permit to build and operate. Aside from the typical street corner and lobby newsstands, other outlets include bookstores, pharmacies, supermarkets, and convenience stores. Newsstands are also located inside hotels and office buildings or beneath street level in underground concourses or on subway platforms . In other countries they can be quite large and sophisticated businesses and can be fully computerized .
Newsstands are also becoming part of the outdoor street advertising furniture. In many cities advertising agencies replace old or build new kiosks, receiving the right to sell an advertising space on them.
A typical newsstand derives its profits from volume sales of newspapers and magazines. Ancillary items such as cigarettes and chewing gum also play an important part in its financial success. A typical day for a newsstand operator or dealer begins in the pre-dawn hours of the morning, when a distribution service drops off bundles of periodicals that come out on that particular day of the week. Newspaper trucks deliver the morning dailies, and may return later with a p.m. edition.
BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT
For much of its history, the newsstand industry has been operated by new immigrants, especially in the decades following World War II. European families originally dominated the business, while Arabic and Asian entrepreneurs entered the field in the 1980s and 1990s. In New York City alone, 1,325 newsstands were in business in 1950, a figure that can be compared with the 2,313 newsstands operating in the entire United States in 1997. And in the UK with more than 60m inhabitants yet smaller than 242,000 sq metres, newstands are easy to find and bursting with choice. In direct contrast to North America, 88% of magazines& newspapers are sold at newstands.