Friday 17 February 2012

Diversify or die!

Farmers are not the only small-business people who have to diversify to keep their head above water.

Yesterday, I highlighted the auto repair shop in the back alley. Their ability to diversity the service they offer is especially limited. They can increase the range of makes/models perhaps.

With the shrinking of the market for hard-copy newspapers and magazines, newsagents have had to join networks, and diversity the range of services they offer their (usually) walk-in/off-the-peg clients. Take this newsagent, in Darlinghurst Road, just opposite the fire-station.

He carries nearly the full range of main newspapers: Fairfax (Sydney Morning Herald,Sun Herald); News Ltd (The Australian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph). He only appears not to carry the Financial Review, which, my guess is his clientele would have little use for. He is an agent for the NSW Lotteries, and for a range of mobile phone service providers: Telstra, Lyca and Lebara. He is an agent for government bus tickets. He is an agent for the airport shuttle bus, has an ATM and a public phone.He has a money transfer agency and a machine for developing digital photographs.

And ... he also flogs ice. How diversified can you get!

9 comments:

Stefan Jansson said...

I don't think I have ever been in a kiosk in Sweden where they were sell ice.

Julie said...

Feel there may be a need to clarify something.

The 'ice' this newsagent is selling is the frozen water variety.

Kay L. Davies said...

It's tough all over in the newspaper biz. Might not last much longer...so sad.
K

Carole M. said...

yes definately all worth pointing out - it's a sign of the times isn't it/rather sadly. Great photo!

Jim said...

I can't say I've seen ice sold by a newsagent before. Petrol station, yes. Newsagent, no.

Jo said...

Yep, never seen Ice being sold from a newsagency before.. But when times are hard you have to please every customer...

Joan Elizabeth said...

Looks like they are doing an Internet service too.

Our local newsagent would do all of those things (minus the ice and the public phone is outside) but adds the post office and takes in dry cleaning in his portfolio.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Multi tasking at it's extreme!

Gerald (SK14) said...

Diversity is the name of the game - by ice do you mean ice-cream and stuff - a lot of similar shops here sell a variety of ices - if its just crushed ice than why not if there's a demand - it amazed me when we rolled up at the hospital in Palm Springs in California with my wife's broken ankle that they asked us why we hadn't put it in ice- how does a tourist from a cold country know where to get some from?