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Business & Tech

Newsstand Specializes in Obscure Titles and Customer Service

After 17 years, Montrose Village Newsstand is still standing.

There's an unusual sight on Honolulu Avenue: a large indoor newsstand. Newsstands, once a familiar part of the San Fernando Valley, have slowly been going the way of the dodo, forced to compete with the rise of newsstand-containing-bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, the ever-increasing power of the Internet and the recession.

But  owner Joanne Thompson isn't worried about job security. "If you enjoy holding onto a newspaper, if you enjoy holding onto a magazine, you're going to enjoy doing that. Period," she says emphatically. "You can stick a magazine in your purse and go to the beach with it or get on an airplane with it. There's always going to be some demand for it."

Still, not everyone is so devoted to the idea of newsprint."I come here to get the Financial Times of London. This is the only place locally that I can get this," says Theresa Hendrickson. However, she would be willing to cut the stand from her routine if technology caught up with her needs. "If I could get this on eReader I would consider that," she says. "I love my eReader." 

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For the time being, Thompson isn't too worried. After opening the shop 17 years ago, she's seen trends come and go, and first-time customers become old friends. One such repeat visitor is John South, who since day one has seen the stand as a necessity. "Every Tuesday I get the New York Times. It has a science section in it," he explains. "I'm a physicist, so I get it for that. She's got a wide variety of magazines. I think I spend more here than on food!"

"It is really like Mayberry," Thompson says of the community surrounding her store. "I've seen people grow up. I've seen coloring books all the way up to 'I need to buy a car now.'"

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Almost as if to prove her point, a shopper approaches, and the two engage in a lively conversation about shared acquaintances. A seemingly obscure home decor magazine is mentioned and quickly procured. Thompson  doesn't even bat an eye at the request. She's heard it before.

There's an art to remembering repeat customers' preferences, and it's something that Joanne doesn't take lightly. "Just like a good bartender, you don't have to order your drink. Your drink is being stirred as you walk in the door," she says of her customers. "I'm putting the order together by the time they get here. Unless I'm busy, their paper is already ready for them."

The publicatins crammed into Thompson's store range from titles in French and Spanish to music mags big and small as well as lifestyle 'zines ranging from sporty to flirty. Thompson's feat of memory is no small trick. Just don't ask her to tell you why people buy what they do.

"Sometimes you think you know why someone's buying something, but you'll start talking to them and nope! It has nothing to do with it at all," she says. "It might not even be for them. I just had a gentleman come in [because] a ten-year-old's in the hospital, he's going to be laid up for maybe a couple of months. Through talking to him, I was able to get him a whole stack of stuff that's going to help entertain the kid, and he guy felt really good about buying something."

For customer Terry Shakespeare, the appeal of the store is multi-generational. "We come in once a month or so," he says, gesturing to his young daughter who doesn't look up from her reading. "She likes horse magazines. I get some coin magazines. Mostly hobby stuff." He offers up a thick stack of speciality magazines as evidence. 

Montrose Village Newsstand may be rooted in the printed word, but recently Thompson has taken her store to the Internet. "Just recently, I put all my titles on my Facebook page," she says.  "You might not know that we carried the French titles, or that we carried a certain basketball magazine. You might be able to see something on the Facebook page that was little too overwhelming in here."

Montrose Village Newsstand is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (818) 541-1141

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