FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. 鈥揃ob鈥檚 News and Books is an old-school, mom-and-pop shop serving downtown Fort Lauderdale with the hottest newspaper headlines and glossy magazine covers for over 50 years. But with steep declines in print circulation, the once-traditional newsstand has since evolved into a half-convenience store to stay afloat.
The quaint store on Andrews Avenue is packed with merchandise from banned books wrapped in plastic to be preserved as antiques to oddball titles you won鈥檛 find at a typical Barnes & Noble. Across from Broward Health Medical Center, it鈥檚 a regular stop for nurses to grab snacks before their shifts, and day-one regulars to pick up lottery tickets, hoping for a life-changing win. Nowadays, fewer customers leave this neighborhood staple with a folded print issue under their arm, as many turn to their digital devices for the latest news.
鈥淧eople get eBooks and read articles off the internet instead of buying magazines like this,鈥� said Paul Ranni, a Bob鈥檚 News regular, licking his thumb to flip through the pages of a motorsport magazine as he sat outside the store. The Fort Lauderdale local calls the shop 鈥渦nique,鈥� pointing out that there aren鈥檛 many newsstands left in the area where you can just walk in and buy print copies off the shelf.
Ranni, 70, says he鈥檚 watched the print market shrink as the internet grew. He still prefers the traditional feel of paper and smelling the musty ink of the pages, but admits the shift from print to digital is 鈥渦navoidable.鈥� He gave away many old magazine copies that sat untouched in storage bins: 鈥淚 could have all that stuff on a flash drive and carry it in my pocket.鈥�
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 always going to be magazines and books, but the market is going to be much, much smaller than it had been in the past. It might level off at a very small segment of the market, but still there,鈥� said Ranni.
Many U.S. newspaper companies鈥� reader base and revenue have declined since the mid-2000s, according to a 2023 study from Pew Research. Seth Cohen, one of Bob鈥檚 News鈥檚 original owners, witnessed print sales dropping early in the 1990s. He noted that this began with the rise of the internet, where customers could access free or cheaper versions of publications online.
Cohen, 77, attributed this to the 鈥渄windling鈥� of their best-selling products, making it harder to sell and even buy from distributors who scaled back production of printed publications for the same reason.
In 1975, Cohen purchased Bob鈥檚 News from a previous owner with his wife鈥檚 family after moving from New Jersey. They also took over two existing newsstands in the area, including Clark鈥檚 Out of Town News. In 1999, Bob鈥檚 News and Clark鈥檚 Out of Town News were voted 鈥淏est Newsstand鈥� in Broward County by the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, a local news source. Despite the good news, he says the market began to shift around that time.
When the print retail business hit the fan, the other two newsstands soon began to close down, one page at a time. The shelves at Bob鈥檚 News began to gather dust, and their bare wooden racks were exposed. During this time, Cohen and his family went into survival mode to save the last standing newsstand.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a double-edged sword because you lose your core products without something to replace it with. It was difficult, but you got to roll with the punches,鈥� said Cohen. When the store鈥檚 print distributors were halved, and with the space left behind, he replaced what was once a news rack with a beer cooler or converted it into a snack shelf. Now, walking down the jam-packed aisles, one might find a rack of potato chips beside shelves of literature from every genre imaginable.
Walking through the store, a customer can find rows of comics, vintage magazines, and even discounted books. The latest addition is the 鈥淏anned Books鈥� aisle, which Cohen says can be seen as part of an 鈥渁nti-establishment鈥� effort to raise awareness about book bans, especially those in the recent headlines involving the removal of books from libraries or schools.
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Cohen explained that Bob鈥檚 News kept its lights on while the other two shut down because of the store鈥檚 鈥渆dgy鈥� vibe, as it鈥檚 a fusion of a smoke shop and an adult store. He said the layout was designed to draw in different crowds and help supplement income, and it started from a Harley-Davidson T-shirt and grew from there. The family also owns the building, which he said kept the closed sign off the door, since rent is a 鈥渒iller鈥� for many retail shops.
A neon blue 鈥淔oreign News鈥� sign from the ceiling indicates the aisle, once a go-to spot for international travelers to pick up issues from their home country. Bob鈥檚 News has a sign out front that says 鈥淟ast Stop Before The Airport,鈥� as the store, located on South Andrews Avenue, is about three miles from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Erin Steinberg, 44, is the current owner of Bob鈥檚 News. He says the longtime regulars are a focal point of the business, but also like a second family as they stop in to share life updates, and buy a cigar on their way out. Steinberg has worked at the store since 1996 and is the third generation in his family to run it. His mother previously managed the business, and his uncle, Cohen, later took over. Steinberg and his uncle were co-owners until Cohen retired.
Steinberg reminisces about picking up hot-off-the-press print copies every day for Bob鈥檚 News when he first started working at the newsstand. However, he says that鈥檚 no longer the case nowadays, as newspapers have no monetary benefit to the business, calling them a 鈥渓oss leader.鈥�
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 need to buy the newspaper on Sundays anymore,鈥� said Steinberg, standing behind the cash register with a colorful wall of lottery scratch-off tickets behind him, tallying inventory on his legal pad.
Only one lonely newspaper rack remains in the store. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to have it,鈥� Steinberg quipped. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a newsstand.鈥�
Steinberg points out that older clients often buy print media, but he said it all comes down to the person鈥檚 age and the generation they grew up in. Still, he says there are rare occurrences, like spotting a white alligator, when a younger customer will pick up a newspaper and their favorite beverage.
For a place built on paper, those rare moments are enough to keep the story going.
This story was produced by MediaLab@FAU, a project of Florida Atlantic University School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, as part of a content sharing partnership with the SA国际传谋 newsroom. The reporter can be reached .
