Dick’s Newsstand, which for years has sold newspapers, magazines, snacks and cigarettes from its spot at 1037 N. Central Ave. in the Tracy Inn building, closed without ceremony this weekend.
The doors were locked Sunday, April 17, and on Monday a stack of delivered USA Today newspapers sat outside the darkened storefront. No sign explained why or for how long the business would be closed.
According to a worker at the Tracy Inn, employees on Friday and Saturday were told that the store was closing and that their services were no longer needed.
Paramjit and Sawtantar Jaspal, identified as the owners by landlord Dino Margaros, couldn’t be reached for comment. Calls to the newsstand were not answered, either by a person or answering machine.
Margaros, who owns the Tracy Inn, said he hadn’t heard much about the store’s shuttering and didn’t know if the business was simply closed or for sale.
While it’s not identified specifically as Dick’s, a listing on www.globalbx.com features a newsstand “adjacent to a historic building in downtown Tracy” for sale for $250,000. According to the ad, the owners are selling because of a “severe medical disability.”
Dan Schack, a longtime business owner in downtown Tracy just two storefronts down from Dick’s, hopes that someone will step in to operate the newsstand that’s been a part of the city’s business landscape since 1948.
“Dick’s Newsstand is just like a landmark,” Schack said Monday.
I really didn't expect the newstand to ever close but there was mention of tending to an illness.
In another article it reported that a real estate company that took over the old Penney's building has shut its doors too but in this economic slump that would appear logical.
I drove down Central Av yesterday evening around 5:00 pm. As usual, most of the businesses were closing, unsightly clothes racks on the sidewalk at Central/7th, tacky window painting on the old Opera House building, and unsavory types hanging out on the street corners. What's it going to take for this city to clean up an area they speak of so highly?
Th answer ta yer question is, as many as th market will support. If they can't stay in business cus thair are too many of em an th market can't support any more they will go out of business.
Oh, city of Tracy, please don't approve yet another nail salon in that space. There already seems to be a nail salon on EVERY corner. I have nothing against nail salons, or pizza parlors, but just how many can one town support?
Hopefully who ever is ill can be cured an hopefully someone can step in an keep Dick's open.
My best wishes to the owners...hope it sells fast and reopens!
Because of the internet places like Dick's are rare to find today. I hope we never lose our local paper.
To everyone at Dick's, thank you all very much, best of luck to all of you. You will be missed by many.