Local print businesses fight to keep the written word
—old and new—alive

Bridget Doyle/triblocal.com staff reporter 04/16/10 01:53 PM

Read it on the site by clicking here.

While the future of print journalism remains unknown, those whose businesses rely on it have a vested interested in keeping it alive.

Local print authorities Bob’s Newsstand and Chicago-Main Newsstand might sell different products—one old, one new—but they both agree on one thing: there’s nothing like the feel of newsprint.

Bob Katzman, proprietor of Bob’s Newsstand, 4906 Oakton St., Skokie, offers his candid wisdom to customers along with vintage newsprint. His store is simple: thin wood shelves stacked with nearly 100,000 magazines organized by date—the oldest dating back to 1850.

“People say they can get the news online, but it’s not the same thing as walking into this place,” Katzman said. “There’s a fragrance —an aura of history that surrounds you.”

Katzman closed his Morton Grove-based Magazine Memories store back in September, and recently opened his refreshed operation in downtown Skokie. Aside from trying to run a business, Katzman has reached out to members of his newly-adopted community to come in and take a look at what he has to offer—free admission to a museum of print history.

“Paper is everything,” Katzman said. “Reading online is just that—a virtual experience. I want contact. It’s the same thing if someone offered me a virtual kiss. That’s not a kiss. When you spend hours or days with a book or magazine, it’s your friend. I don’t get that from a shiny plastic screen.”

Although Katzman has recruited outside help to transition some of his own writing to the Web for exposure, he admits to still being frustrated by the notion of losing newsprint to cyberspace.

“I feel pretty much lost in time now,” Katzman said. “At a certain point, I could find almost anything related to paper and I had relationships all over the country in the newsprint industry. I feel like, with the dying of paper, there is no value on history. There’s no record, no one wants to save anything.”

Evanston’s Chicago-Main Newsstand, 860 Chicago Ave., has been a neighborhood staple on its busy street corner since the 1930s—even after its eight-year hiatus due to negotiations over the land between the CTA and the city of Evanston from 1993 to 2001.

The small newsstand offers a buffet of current magazines and newspapers, with topics ranging from automobiles to art, pets to business.

Eric Ismond started out as just a frequent customer, and after eight years of hard work, is now the store manager.

Although Ismond said sales are flat due to the downturn of the publishing business in general, he said the newsstand has a steady flow of regular customers and doesn’t plan to succumb to the pressures of the iPad or Kindle.

“I’ve never been able to get used to reading things online,” Ismond said.

There’s a physical difference between scanning the printed word on a screen and holding it in my hand. It’s a completely different experience.”

For more information about the Chicago-Main Newsstand, click here.
For more info about Bob Katzman’s newsstand and published works, click here.
 
—Story and photos by Bridget Doyle, TribLocal reporter