Grover Tom Wik reaches for one last newspaper. Photos by Mary Walton
By Mary Walton, Blogfinger Literary Editor
With the sale of its last newspaper on Sunday, News & Such at 53 Main Avenue closed its doors.
Ocean Grove will be without a newsstand for the first time in at least 60 years, says local historian Ted Bell.
Vicki LaBella, who owns both the shop and the building with partner Hunt Parry, an Ocean Grove attorney, says she could no longer afford to keep the business open. For the first five years she owned it, News & Such turned a profit, but it has lost money for the last two years. “I should have closed years ago,” she said. Instead, she supported the business with her own funds. This fall she reached the point where “there was no more money left to put in it.”
Vicki LaBella behind the counter
Over time, a confluence of negative trends took a relentless toll. With the upsurge in property values and corresponding increase in taxes, many year-round residents of Ocean Grove have sold out to second-home buyers, eroding the shop’s customer base. Sky-high taxes on cigarettes drove down sales, although, LaBella said, she never felt good about selling tobacco. Shrinking newspaper readership did not help, either. “And then the economy tanked.” Not even lottery sales have been profitable.
LaBella, who returned to the shop in early September after completing a 4,327-mile cross-country bicycle trek, indicated then that she was considering closing the business. She told Blogfinger on Sunday that there have been expressions of interest from prospective tenants but no firm offers.
LaBella, 54, will not be idle. She is a part-time librarian in Interlaken, where she and Parry live, as well as secretary to the town’s planning board and a substitute teacher. She is also actively looking for a job in the cycling industry.
She said she will open the business sporadically during the coming weeks to sell off its remaining stock. That includes her collection of nearly 100 china creamers.
A fixture since the 1950s, Ocean Grove's only newsstand is no more
This is a very sad event for our town. I first was saddened when our friendly feline “Princess” vanished during the heavy snow storm that paralyzed our town and was not there to greet us anymore. I will never forget her sleeping in the window. Farewell…you will be missed.
-Barbara
A very sad day indeed! The news paper store was part of the charm of OG and we will miss it very much.
All the best Vicki and thanks for hanging in for as long as you did.
Pat and Dennis
Vicki, I’ll miss our conversations about dogs … especially our “neurotic” ones.
Steve, Thanks for the bit of trivia.
I worked at Ruth’s stationery back in the early 60s. I don’t think there was a young person who didn’t know Ruth’s growing up in the 50s and 60s, and that was when penny candy was really a penny. Kids would flock to Ruth’s on Tuesdays in the summer when movies were shown in Uncle Bill Thompson’s Youth Center.
The newsstand has been a staple of Ocean Grove for as long as I can remember. I join the others who regret its closing and applaud Vicky and those before her who continued the legacy of a friendly neighborhood store.
Vicki-
My three grandchildren are taking the store’s closing very much to heart because their visits every summer since birth included shopping there. They are now 13, 22, and 24 and have memories of “candy dots”, “gummy bears”, even a “blow up shark”. Sad to see you go, wish you good luck.
ken
Vicki-
Please visit OG often. I will really miss your smiling face. Sabrina will miss you, also. Wishing you all of the best things coming your way!!! See you at a race, maybe?
Jennifer
When I lived in the Grove, this store was one of the highlights of the town. When I moved out into Neptune proper, not having one like it was our only complaint.
Best wishes, Vicki, and thanks for holding on as long as you did!
I loved the OG newsstand back when Kevin owned it. How he remembered every customer’s name was amazing. When he left I thought it would never be the same. Then Vicki came along and proved me wrong and kept the grand tradition of the OG newsstand going. Such a nice kind soul. I for one will miss the OG newsstand greatly.
I’m sorry to see it close…I’ll miss the paper, the fax machine, and my dog will miss the biscuits..
Back in 2005, I went to News & Such and asked Vicki LaBella if I could insert some flyers into the newspapers there in order to promote a news website I had launched called the Ocean Grove Record.
She said “yes” without hesitation, and always offered her support and encouragement. She was and is a wonderful person.
One of the people who picked up a newspaper that day and read the flyer was Paul Goldfinger. He started contrubuting pictures and then stories to the Ocean Grove Record. Readers loved his work.
When I could no longer maintain the site due to other commitments, Paul launched this fantastic blog which has grown into a magnificent example of citizen-journalism and is an invaluable asset to Ocean Grove.
Though News & Such may have closed its doors its legacy will live on due in no small part to Vicki’s kindness and generosity that day back in 2005.
– Steven Froias, Editor, triCityNews
I will miss Vickie and the paper store—one of my joys during my summers as a tenter. I wish her well.
Rich Morin
I’m sorry to see it close…I’ll miss the paper, the fax machine, and my dog will miss the biscuits..