'Rude Behavior' Ends Decades of Newspaper Selling at a Tribeca Market

Morgan's Market posted a sign over their newspapers informing customers that they would no longer sell the papers "due to increasing rude behavior." Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The shelves outside the entrance to Morgan’s Market at 13 Hudson St. were a rare and welcoming sight for print-loving eyes. For decades, they have been reliably stacked with copies of the Times, Daily News, Post, and other papers. But that ended on Monday, and not for a lack of demand, says Morgan’s Market manager Peter Nam.

“A lot of people steal the paper, they don’t get in the line, they cut in the line, they leave it and they go,” Nam said, noting that some customers will drop off the wrong amount or throw money somewhere around the register, making it unclear whether they paid. “If our cashier asks them to make a line they yell at them.” 

“We have to watch the door all the time,” he added.

Mia, who works at the register, said people pretend to come in the store and then “walk right out with the paper.”

“And it’s unfortunate because sometimes I recognize the customer and it’s been a very loyal customer and I wonder, are there other issues that they’re having,” said Mia, who declined to give her last name. “So we don’t want to embarrass them either. We quietly say you’re not welcome to take the paper anymore, you’re not welcome to come into the store any more.”

A sign posted above the newspaper shelves late last week bluntly informed readers that newspapers would no longer be sold at Morgan’s Market after Sunday, June 22, because of “rude behavior,” by some customers. That note came as disappointing news to 40-year Tribeca resident Tim Wong, who had just purchased his Sunday Times on that last day.

“I used to have it delivered but after a while it got so spotty so I started buying it here for the last few years,” said Wong, who declared his strong preference for having the Times “in my lap” rather than online. 

“Where am I going to go now? It’s going to be tough.” 

“This is the first time in 55 years that I have not been able to eat my breakfast with the New York Times spread before me,” said another devoted print reader who asked not to be identified.

The Trib requested from the Times their distribution locations in zip codes closest to Morgan’s, 10013 and 10007, and confirmed that there are four. (A fifth, the Duane Reade at Broadway and Park Place, receives the Times and other papers but they are almost never available, a man behind the counter said, because the copies are dropped off before the store opens and “people steal them. Most of the time they’re missing.”) 

The newspaper seller closest to Morgan’s is the tiny Barakth & Saiful Convenience Store at 164 Church St., near Reade Street. Resting on boxes of soda and beneth the Cheeze-Its, Sugar Wafers and Cracker Jacks are the Times, Post, Daily News, Wall Street Journal and papers in several other languages.

“The problem is there’s no profit,” said Jay, who has worked behind the counter for more than three years. He complained that, among other problems, it is difficult to reconcile his account when he is shorted by the distributor. But he keeps the papers there for his loyal customers, he said, “Nice people. They are coming all the time. They will buy one paper with one soda.”

Although Jay said he plans to continue selling newspapers, “it’s a headache my friend. Headache.”

From the World Trade Center to Canal Street, the Times, News and Post can usually be purchased at: The newsstand at Greenwich and Murray Streets (The Financial Times is also sold there); the 7-Eleven, 110 Church St.; Soho Deli Grocery, 386 Canal St. at West Broadway; Barakth & Sailful Convenience Store, 164 Church St.; and Gateway News Stand at the Oculus, nearest to the Vesey Street entrance. The Duane Reade at 315 North End Ave., in Battery Park City, carries the New York Post and Wall Street Journal only.