Papers no longer stocked at Baggot Street newsagent ‘due to low customer purchasing’

The sign was spotted outside SPAR on Baggot Street over the weekend.

A Baggot Street newsagent has announced it will no longer be stocking newspapers, due to low customer purchasing and a high account fee.

A sign spotted outside SPAR, Baggot Street on Sunday reads:

We would like to inform you that due to low customer purchasing and a high account fee we are no longer in a position to stock newspapers in our store. If the situation changes, we will be back to you. 

Interesting times when they can’t sell newspapers on Baggot street of all places. pic.twitter.com/oMIhK5DICo

— Áine McMahon (@AineMcMahon) September 11, 2022

Áine McMahon, who shared the sign on Twitter, noted the relevance of the shop being unable to move newspapers on Baggot Street (with the Dáil located just around the corner).

Lovin have reached out to SPAR Baggot Street for comment.

These graphs by ilevel.ie show the decline of newspaper sales in Ireland from January 2009 to January 2022.

In July of this year, amid rising inflation, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) noted that the largest decreases in the volume of sales in June 2022 when compared with February 2020 levels were for newspapers, bars, books, and stationery and fuel.

The cost of paper itself has also “swollen unpleasantly since last autumn”, according to the Irish Times, with the first half of 2022 bringing with it an “unprecedented” increase in newsprint costs.

According to the Times, the Irish news publishing industry has drawn attention to these “historic highs” for newsprint prices in its pre-budget submission, in which it reiterates its call for both printed and digital newspapers to be zero-rated for VAT.

The rising cost of energy has also been cited as an attributing factor, as it effects the actual printing and distributing of papers.

Header image via Shutterstock

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