Long hours and the onus of delivery may be driving newsagents to sell up but interest in those merged with retail spaces remains strong.
Seven newsagency-incorporated businesses are on the market across the south-west.
They include Warrnambool Post and Lotto ($350,000), Port Fairy Tatts and Associated Lines ($499,000), Port Fairy NewXpress ($470,000), Terang Newsagency and Tatts ($449,000), Manifold Street newsagency Camperdown, Heywood Newsagency and Tatts ($125,000) and Colac Lotto ($895,000).
Premier Business Consultants director Jocelyn Wilson said many long-time owners were calling time on the laborious operations.
"A lot of newsagencies with deliveries are up for sale simply because the long-time owners no longer want to get up four o'clock in the morning to deliver papers," she said.
"It's because of the hours."
It was those long hours which prompted iconic Koroit newsagency owners Bob and Dot Shanahan to step away from their business after 26 years in 2019.
But Ms Wilson said listings were attracting plenty of interest, depending on the model offered.
"Post offices and Tattersalls are very strong, because they're an essential business," she said.
"They weren't affected by COVID because they were always open throughout. They traded even through lockdowns, so they're very profitable and successful businesses.
"Post office and Tatts newsagency businesses aren't included in the list of long-time owners leaving, they're all retail shop trade and they're still sought-after."
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Wollerman Business Brokers agent Robert Dale said he'd observed the same trend.
"Times have changed," he said.
"With a lot of those standalone newsagencies, home delivery was one big part of their income and that's been diluted ... it's all basically done by one central contractor.
"If they don't have a Tatts or a post office, that restricts the amount of traffic into their stores."
A number of south-west newsagencies have closed their doors in the past five years.
Just this month, the Mortlake newsagency on Dunlop Street permanently shut up shop.
It followed the closure of Cobden's newsagency after all venues to find a new buyer were exhausted despite a 15-month search.
The owners made the "heart-breaking" decision to shut, with the newsagency officially closing its doors on June 18.
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Jessica Greenan
Journalist at The Warrnambool Standard covering Corangamite Shire Council. Sometimes court. Special interest in all things environment.
Journalist at The Warrnambool Standard covering Corangamite Shire Council. Sometimes court. Special interest in all things environment.
