BULLETIN FLIES OFF SHELVES
NEWSPAPERS, magazines and lotto tickets are increasingly bought online – but one lucky Gold Coast news agency is bucking the trend thanks to its prime location.
Coombabah Lakes News in Coombabah Plaza is a stone’s throw from retirement villages. While diversification is key for many agents, the Hansford Road shop owner Adrian Lancaster said his senior customers were easier to please.
Many still head straight for the Bulletin, which they’ve been snapping up for decades: “I’ve been here 21 years in November and I believe the shop’s been here about 35. I’m the third owner.
“Back in the day newsagencies were sort of a prestige business. Over the years the internet has obviously come to affect things like magazines, newspapers and lotto.
“But we’ve done quite well. We have a couple of retirement villages close by and with close to 300 homes in each we have a loyal clientele. It’s one of the main reasons we’ve carried on the way we have — they’re so loyal.
“I have tried different things over the years, gift lines, but I found we actually took some things away because we weren’t selling enough of those products.”
He said “you’ve got to diversify in this day and age” but the shop’s main offerings “sell enough to keep the business going quite well”.
“A lot of the older people don’t have computers and don’t wish to and that’s the reason they come,” he said. “It’s really nice to have news on your local area. The Bulletin is still our biggest selling paper because people want their local information, they want to know what’s going on in their area.”
Mr Lancaster gets a kick chatting with regulars but it’s not all sunshine and roses.
“Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of people pass away, because of their age and the time I’ve been here,’ he said.
“I do get a lot of compliments. You’re like a bartender, listening to people’s troubles because they know you quite well. I know quite a lot by first name.”