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Athens’ Only Independent News Stand Closes Its Doors
I get a call from Barnett's News Stand. For
the first time, I think, they've sold out
of our magazine, and they need some
more. I gladly take the call.
"Hey Ramsey, this is Midge. I hate to say
this, but we'll have to settle up soon because
we're closing our doors," the owner explains.
"But, why?" I ask.
"People just aren't buying magazines and
newspapers like they used to," she replies. "I
want to see you though, so come on over."
Disheartened, I hang up the phone. In the
magazine business, it's rare to receive phone
calls from vendors, especially from ones who
know you by name. So, I head down to the
66-year-old landmark, the only independent
news stand in Athens. College
Square is alive with the music
and protest of the annual
Human Rights Festival. I walk
under the faded red awning past
the outdoor news rack, faith
fully stocked with the Sunday
New York Times, the AJC and the
Banner-Herald, and push open
the heavy glass door.
Barnett's hasn't changed
since I first discovered it 13
years ago. I smell the comfort
ing scent of ink and paper laced
with tobacco, inhale the same
old dust, and glance around at
familiar mastheads. I wave to
Rich Whiteman, the clerk behind
the counter, whose beard seems
to grow longer with each pass
ing year. On May 18, the day
Barnett's will close, Whiteman
will have worked here for 20
years "on the nose," he says.
A customer pays for a pack
of cigarettes. "This place has
been here my whole life. I'm
sure going to miss it," he
exclaims before tipping his hat
and stepping out the door. The
floorboards creak beneath my
feet as I browse the back corner
of the store, where the racks
hold literary and art magazines.
I remember discovering so many
publications here. Like so many windows, they
offered different views of the world. I remem
ber picking up my first copies of Mother Jones,
The Sun, The Paris Review, Oxford American
and Adbusters: titles I might not have discov
ered if I had never browsed Barnett's—titles
that don't pop up on most Google searches.
I remember digging into whatever caught my
eye, sometimes sitting Indian-style on the
worn brown carpet so engrossed in what I
was reading. The management never bothered
me nor asked if I planned to buy what I was
consuming.
Owner Midge Gray walks out of the stock-
room, where she's taking final inventory of
all the titles she's stocked through the years.
She smiles a defeated sort of smile. "When we
first bought the place, we had one distributor
in Atlanta that sold mainline titles. I had to
go out and find the smaller distributors to get
the more obscure magazines. Three of those
distributors have gone out of business," she
explains.
Gray admits Barnett's hasn't physically
changed much since she and her former hus
band bought it in 1978. She points out the
cigar cases, which came with the store. A low
tiled ceiling supports rickety fans and fluores
cent lights, which illuminate the wood-pan
eled walls and shelving. "Maybe I should have
changed some things," Gray wonders aloud.
Meanwhile, the publishing industry has
evolved at an incomprehensible speed. Print
publications have moved online, supermarkets
have expanded their newsstands, magazine
distribution agencies have been consolidated,
Amazon.com offers click-button shopping and
big chain retailers can buy in bulk and sell
printed material at a discounted rate. All of
these changes have contributed to a steady
decline in revenue at Barnett's and the overall
frustration of its owner, who still believes in
good old-fashioned customer service.
"I remember the days when I could call a
distributor directly while the customer was
standing there and ask them for a particular
magazine. I just can't do that anymore. The
customer wants an answer right away, and I
don't blame them," says Gray.
Now, Gray complains about having to call a
customer service center in Vancouver to order
magazines as local as Georgia Trend. Since the
industry's consolidations in the 1990s, she has
dealt primarily with one magazine vendor—
The News Group, one of four wholesalers who
now control 90 percent of the single-copy
sales market in the country, according to the
Walt Street Journal. The consolidation of peri
odical distribution has been driven by large
retailers, attempting to diminish costs by
ordering magazines and newspapers for entire
regions, rather than for specific local markets.
"We used to have a really nice selection of
art magazines, but the distributors stopped
carrying a lot of the smaller publications,"
Gray says. "They said then what I'm saying
now, 'It's just a business decision. We can't
afford to carry those titles anymore.'"
Gray has always worked directly with local
publishers. For three years, I have schlepped
armloads of fresh-off-the-press magazines into
Barnett's, where Gray clears out a prime loca
tion for them on her most popular shelf.
"I think it's important to support local
businesses," she says. She also supports her
employees, which explains why customers
could always expect to see familiar faces
inside Barnett's. Ever since her full-time man
ager and friend, Carl Smith, died of a heart
attack two years ago. Gray says things just
haven't been the same. A photo of Smith
hangs behind the counter, where he greeted
customers for 20 years.
Downtown has also changed a lot since
1978. Before College Avenue became a one
way street, Gray recalls it was easier for cus
tomers to run into her store.
She remembers a time when
downtown supported four inde
pendent booksellers. "There
used to be room for all of us,"
she says.
However, Gray has enjoyed
the pedestrian traffic and close
proximity to campus. An avid
sports fan, she recalls the
Friday night before the first
UGA football game of 1980.
Herschel Walker strolled into
Barnett's and bought a bunch
of comic books for his bus
ride to Tennessee. "I remem
ber how polite he was," she
says. "Dominique Wilkins came
in here and sold me his All
American League ring back
when the price of gold climbed
so high in the '80s. Later I sold
it back to him," she says.
Sports celebrities aside, Gray
claims she'll miss her regulars
more than anything else when
her store closes. "This is the
end of a tradition, the end of
an era," she says. "People are
upset, and I'm upset. But it's
time to make a change, and I
hope people will embrace the
new business that opens here."
Gray plans to lease the space
to another local entrepreneur,
Diana Harbour, who will relocate her shop,
Red Dress Boutique, from its current location
on Baxter Street to College Avenue. Gray also
plans to spend more time with her grandkids
and do some volunteer work, but doesn't rule
out the chance of returning to work.
"I'm still young," she says. "I sure am
going to miss the people," she continues. "So
many folks have come in since they heard the
business is closing. It makes you think, 'Where
have you been?"'
Like so many local businesses downtown,
Barnett's has been a beloved institution. But
landmarks don't always make money; people
take gathering places for granted.
"I just want to thank Athens for 30 great
years. I'll miss everybody," Gray says, her eyes
welling up with tears. Before I leave, Midge
hugs me goodbye. I wonder if I'll ever feel so
proud to see my magazine on a news stand
again.
Ramsey Nix
Nix is the editor of Lake Oconee Living, a magazine
published by Main Street Communications, an inde
pendent publisher based in Madison.
Barnett’s News Stand owner Midge Gray
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MAY 14, 2008 • FLAGPOLE.COM 11