Newsstand surviving in digital age
Kay and Tom Nam have owned Current Events for 13 years. The shop has struggled in recent years due to the economy and digital revolution. Photo by Alene Tchekmedyian Kay Nam sat behind the counter in her shop, in front of a wall of lotto tickets, pictures of toddlers and neighborhood dogs, and among stands of magazines. A lady walked in with a small, white-haired dog. “Finished your morning walk?” Nam asked the lady, kneeling down to pop a doggie snack in the dog’s mouth. Nestled between a crepe restaurant and a real estate brokerage firm is Nam’s store, Current Events, a news shop open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., stocked with national and international newspapers and magazines, from the Irish Independent and La Opinion to Barron’s and Financial Times. In the digital age and hard economic times, when people can subscribe to newspapers and magazines on their iPads or read content online for free, business has been a struggle for the Nams. “It’s tough,” Kay said, adding, “I hope we can keep the business as much longer as possible.” Kay has run the shop with her husband, Tom Nam, for 13 years. She emigrated in 1999 from South Korea to New York, where Tom went to school and she…
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