Brussels' last newspaper kiosk to close

The last newspaper kiosk still standing in Brussels will disappear by 1 January.

The kiosk is currently located at the junction of Avenue de la Toison d'Or and Avenue Louise, Bruzz reports, but its manager is retiring after 38 years of operating it.

Several managers of newspaper kiosks in the Belgian capital have recently thrown in the towel, sometimes not by choice - after being forced to leave - and sometimes because they simply could not generate enough revenue to stay in business.

The remaining kiosk is the last of the 52 that were once present in Brussels.

The office of Brussels alderman for economic affairs Fabian Maingain (Défi) confirmed its planned removal.

“AMP, the company that owns the kiosk, can no longer find new operators and so they no longer wish to renew their agreement with the City of Brussels,” a spokesperson said, adding steps were taken in the past to try to bring back more of such kiosks.

“In 2018, we launched two vacancies to operate a kiosk: one on Place Jean Rey, the other on Place Agora. Only one application came in, and that was from AMP. However, the kiosks never opened because the company failed to find staff.”