Vol. 128, No. 20 Tuesday, September 4, 2018
OPINION
SPORTS
ARTS & CULTURE
Letters: CSU needs to closely monitor Plaza speakers
Rams lose fourth Showdown
Photos: Best of Tour de Fat
page 6
page 12
page 14
Pam Orzell, manager at Al’s Newsstand and Tobacco shop, stands behind the counter where she has worked for over 20 years. Orzell originally worked for the wholesale distributor that supplied Al’s before transitioning to the retail position with the stand. PHOTO BY DAVIS BONNER COLLEGIAN
Al’s Newsstand prepares to close after 71 years By Blake O’Brien @BTweetsOB
Newsprint, popcorn and tobacco create the unforgettable smell of Al’s. When Pam Orzell, the manager of the Al’s Newsstand and Tobacco Shop for more than 20 years, announced they were closing, she said a woman stopped by and asked, “Do you have a candle that smells like Al’s?” After 71 years, Al’s Newsstand and Tobacco Shop, a fixture in
Fort Collins at 177 N. College Ave. will permanently shut its doors Sept. 15. Although the challenges of rising rent and limited parking in downtown Fort Collins posed difficulties for the shop, Al’s was faced with another, bigger problem: The store’s distributor also went out of business. Orzell said the new distributor wasn’t as reliable as Al’s needed. She was unable to fill customers’ requests for publications as large as Time because the distributor could not provide the copies.
“The inconsistency just became too great for us,” Orzell said. “We just thought, ‘We’re going to go out on a high note. We’re going to go out with our heads held high.’” It’s one of Old Town’s oldest and most beloved retailers, nestled between an art store and a barber shop across from the Northern Hotel. The inside is usually riddled with magazines and cigarettes. Locals and tourists alike stop by Al’s for a read or a puff or some popcorn, popped by the vintage
popcorn machine near the store’s entrance. Orzell said old customers come in all the time and say that the shop still smells the same after 71 years. “And I don’t take offense,” Orzell said. “I wish I could bottle this smell because that’s what so many people remember through the years.” At its peak, Al’s carried more than 2,500 titles from National Geographic to publications that were nationally unknown. David Freed, a Colorado State
University journalism professor, novelist and contributing editor for Air & Space Smithsonian, said Al’s reading selection has always impressed him. “The thing that struck me about Al’s was they catered not just to common reading interests, but there were some ridiculously obscure publications there,” Freed said. The newsstand was originally named Al’s and Bud’s. Back then, the store only sold The Rocky see NEWSSTAND on page 4 >>