A newsagent's shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. In Britain and Australia, these businesses are termed newsagents. Newsagents typically operate in well-trafficked public places like city streets, railway stations and airports. Racks for newspapers and magazines can also be found in convenience stores, bookstores and supermarkets. The physical establishment can be either freestanding or part of a larger structure (e.g. a shopping mall or a railway station).
In Canada and the United States, newsstands are often open stalls in public locations such as streets, or in a transit terminal or station (subway, rail, or airport).
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In Brazil, newsagents' shops are known as "bancas de jornal" or and are usually family-owned free standing kiosks that only deal in periodical publications, telephone cards, bus tickets and the occasional book and cut-price DVD. In suburban areas and villages they are normally housed in a shop selling stationery, tobacco and sweets as well as periodicals.
A newsagent is the manager, often the owner of a newsagency. Newsagents conduct either a retail business and/or a distribution business. Retail newsagencies primarily offer a comprehensive range of newspapers and magazines as well as stationery and greeting cards.
Distribution newsagencies primarily offer home delivery of a comprehensive range of newspapers and magazines, These can be quite large and sophisticated businesses. If authorised, they are fully computerized, a requirement of Australian Consumer Affairs, and now administered by some newsagents' publishers. They often have a territory, which is partly protected by contracts with most of the Australian Newsagents' Federation recognised publishers/distributors. These recognised publishers/distributors include ACP Publishing, News Limited, Fairfax Publications, Rural Press, The West Australian and Australian Provincial Newspapers. These monopolies have been a major source of contention between newsagents and the Australian Consumer Affairs.
In Italy, newsagents' shops are known as edicola and are usually family-owned, free standing kiosks that only deal in periodical publications, stickers, bus tickets and the occasional book and cut-price DVD. In suburban areas and villages they are normally housed in a shop selling stationery, tobacco and sweets as well as periodicals.
Some newsagents' shops in Japan only sell Japanese newspapers, while in some remote places they sell large amounts of food, drink, newspapers, and other items.
In the United Kingdom, newsagents' shops are small shops selling newspapers as well as magazines, provisions, tobacco and alcoholic beverages. Opening times vary according to the owners' preferences.
Many shops are family owned. These family owned shops may carry purchasing group branding such as SPAR, Today's, "Local Shop" or NISA. Alternatively the private owner choosing to do his own purchasing (usually from cash and carries) may carry advertising for a local paper, national news group or soft drinks brand externally. Prior to the banning of advertising of tobacco products this was the most common form of external advertising. Others are part of national chains such as RS McColl/Martins, Co-Operative Groups and WH Smiths, and Newsbox. Mini-marts, off-licences and supermarkets may also act as newsagents.
On street corners in New York City, for instance, they are shacks constructed of steel beams and aluminium siding or roofing tin; and require a city permit to build and operate. Other New York newsstands are located inside hotels and office buildings and beneath street level in underground concourses or on subway platforms. During the 1990s, newsstands on some subway platforms were removed and then reopened in modular units designed to fit into the triangular spaces beneath subway staircases. The newsstands caused limited visibility for officers patrolling the subway stations, as well as impeding crowd movement.[1]