Chain store blues
Editorial
By Ravi Dykema

      We open three letters from community relations managers of Denver area Barnes and Noble (B&N) stores. They tell us that B&N is no longer allowing free publications or posters in their foyers. My heart sinks because this means we just lost 31 percent of our circulation in Denver (but, thankfully, less in Boulder. And we've made up most of the Denver loss since). Still, it feels like a tragedy to me. B&N shoppers were a perfect match for Nexus. About 1,000 of them per store (nine stores) picked up a Nexus each issue. The letters say that the bookstore chain has decided to use the space that had been occupied by free publications for their own materials.

      I'm ticked, so I call their New York offices in hopes that I can persuade Barnes and Noble, Inc. to reverse their decision. I get as far as some mid-level executive who gives me the name of a VP to write to: Judy Katz, 122 5^th Ave, 4^th floor, NY, NY 10011.

      B&N isn't alone in their decision to kick out the locals. This is a trend. More and more stores are ejecting free magazine racks and community bulletin boards because they claim that these community areas are unsightly and require staff time to keep clean. Many of the same stores used to contribute space for free literature distribution as a service to the community. Now, a new resident in a suburb of Denver might, in a month's time of visiting stores, restaurants and hotels, encounter no local media at all accept the daily paper. They could be in Akron, Ohio, for all the uniqueness they would encounter here.

      What's changing? Why is your access to free newspapers eroding? First, locally owned shops are being replaced by chains like Barnes and Noble. Can you imagine a small locally owned bookstore without any local grassroots publications? Can you imagine a local café turning down a high school girl who wants to put up a poster for her school's theater production?

       The second thing that's changing is urban sprawl. It is becoming harder to reach people by placing news boxes outdoors in public places. Many suburbanites rarely get out of their cars on public property. Imagine a giant mall surrounded by a sea of parking lots. Of course, I can still place news boxes on public sidewalks all over greater Denver, but in some communities few people ever walk by. So we try to catch many of our readers downtown where they do step onto public sidewalks.

The First Amendment

      Picture a 1776 New England village, with a town square ringed by stores and bars and restaurants. Everyone ties up their horses at the rail and walks around. A newspaper hawker can reach just about everyone if he stands on a street corner for maybe a week. So our founding fathers figured that to have a free press publishers must have access to the populace, and so they established your right, with the First Amendment to the US Constitution, to hawk your papers (or place your news box) on the town square, which is public property. Many attempts to restrict this right have been shot down by the US Supreme Court over the centuries. Fast forward to Flatiron Crossing and Barnes and Noble. They are the new town square where everyone goes to shop and hang out. See any news boxes? Free magazine racks? Does anyone care?

      This trend toward less and less display space for free magazines is further aggravated by some stores charging for publication display space that a few years ago was given free.

      Your first amendment rights to free press are diminishing, I believe. What can you do? Complain to managers of stores.