As Underground Retail Changes, Subway Newsstands Remain Iconic

For decades, newsstands have been the face of underground retail: small booths on busy subway platforms where you can pick up candy and tabloids before hopping on the next train.

But now, in place of chewing gum and cigarettes, today you're almost as likely to find a shuttered stand instead. About 40 percent of the 326 available retail spaces in subway stations are currently unoccupied.

As a result, MTA wants to modernize retail in subway stations. The agency recently announced plans to pilot new retail options, including pop-up shops and vending machines.

Francis Macwan has run a newsstand at Penn Station for 26 years, and he’s seen consumer tastes change.

"I'd sell, before, a lot of magazines, a lot of magazines. Now I cut it down because people were not buying them," Macwan said. "That's it, lots of junk. That's what people buy."

But a lot of New Yorkers rely on newsstands for quick buys on the fly, such as Lotto tickets and $1 soda — Macwan's bestselling items. LaToya Frazier says she likes the different options newsstands offer. At West 4th Street, she was buying Cool Ranch Doritos and Whoppers while waiting for her train.

"I'm going all the way to Brooklyn so I just take a few snacks with me when I know that I'm going to go far," she said.

Jai Ibrahim, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, counts on stands for a mid-commute snack or a late-night soda. He says he can’t imagine New York without them.

"We need to keep these guys," he said. "They're the heart and soul of the train station."

But the MTA says this is not a case of newsstands versus machines. Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber says the agency also wants to help modernize newsstands by expediting maintenance requests, adjusting rent structures, and moving operators into walk-in spaces.

"So we're a better landlord and they can make the changes they need to have a more successful business," he said.

The new vending machines will sell items like earbuds and phone chargers, along with travel-size toiletries. They'll start appearing in stations this summer.