The New York City subway has a strange and wonderful new retail space at one of its stops in Brooklyn. Called The Newsstand, the month-long pop-up store sells zines, mail art cards, vinyl records, and other fun, fringy, retro-art goodies.
For people who may not know, zines (small-circulation magazines) grew out of the sci-fi fanzines of the 30s-60s, came of age in the punk rock heyday of the 80s, and really exploded in the 90s, thanks to desktop publishing, home copiers, and corner copy shops. Most people think that zines died during Internet childbirth, but zines have remained alive and well, they just went deeper underground, continuing to appeal to a smaller, more dedicated fanbase. In recent years, they’ve even been enjoying something of a resurgence, perhaps as people begin to pine for the good ol’ days of print, punk-rock publishing, and physical mail.
Into this opportunistic environment comes The Newsstand. Created by zine fair curator Lele Saveri and Kevin Kearney and Jamie Falkowski of the creative agency ALLDAYEVERYDAY, the subway shop sells zines and other independent media from around the world, has guest artists and celebrity zine clerks, sells some local-branded snacks, and even sports a zine vending machine. There’s even a leave one/take one zine swap.
The store is located in the Metropolitan Avenue station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at the intersection of the G and L trains. It will remain open until July 20th. Given the enthusiastic response it’s enjoyed, maybe it will stay open longer, or like the DIY ethos of the pubs it sells, inspire other, similar pop-ups. Punk rock!
PAPERMAG has an interview with the store’s three creators.
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