Britain's small independent newsagents are closing at a rate of more than one a day, according to the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), which saw 510 of its members go bankrupt last year.
Head of news and magazines Stefan Wojciechowski said: "Newsagents are already closing at an alarming rate because of competition from supermarkets, and changes in newspaper supply will only make things worse."
The NFRN is calling on the Office of Fair Trading to look into the news trade market as a top priority, and introduce "immediate remedial action".
However, West Sussex retailer Steve Denham believes the blame lies in part with retailers who have relied too much on newspapers.
"The NFRN seems to want to blame the supply chain for these failures entirely, along with poor government policies and the supermarkets, but there are many other business-centred reasons for them, not least the fact that the owners were operating yesterday's business model," he said.
Head of news and magazines Stefan Wojciechowski said: "Newsagents are already closing at an alarming rate because of competition from supermarkets, and changes in newspaper supply will only make things worse."
The NFRN is calling on the Office of Fair Trading to look into the news trade market as a top priority, and introduce "immediate remedial action".
However, West Sussex retailer Steve Denham believes the blame lies in part with retailers who have relied too much on newspapers.
"The NFRN seems to want to blame the supply chain for these failures entirely, along with poor government policies and the supermarkets, but there are many other business-centred reasons for them, not least the fact that the owners were operating yesterday's business model," he said.
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