Graydon Carter, former chief of Vanity Fair, has gone back to the future.
Carter has today opened a newsstand in NYC’s West Village. It’s named for his Air Mail subscriber online magazine. Call it retro cool!
Just the other day I was lamenting the disappearance of almost all newsstands in a city that once burst with them on every corner. In the Village we lost the stand on 8th Street and Sixth Avenue — once a mecca, the center of all activity. Also gone is the store at 6th Avenue and 11th St.
Carter’s gift for marketing is something to behold. Already in the Village he still owns the hottest clubby restaurant, the Waverly Inn. Now comes the Air Mail stand “housed within an early-20th-century landmarked row home … retaining the original, 1905 bones, while adding a modern mix of mid-century furniture, brass finishes, honey-oak-wood flooring, and custom millwork and shelving.”
Apparently he’s already got a stand in London and Milan. Of course. “I know that it’s slightly nutty for a digital enterprise to open a newsstand,” says Carter. “But despite the doldrums the print business is in, we still love magazines. And books and great coffee!”
Drinks will be served in custom Donald Robertson-illustrated cups, with a revolving assortment of pâtisserie offerings.
There will be plenty of magazines. Will they carry Conde Nast product? (LOL– now that would be funny.) But you won’t be able to read Air Mail itself, I guess, which is all digital and subscriber based. Or is Carter planning some kind of print edition?
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