Mansfield Newsagency has been on the market for two years and with no buyers in sight, the Livingstones are preparing to retire.

 

"Unfortunately, it's an industry nobody wants to take on anymore," Frank Livingstone told the ABC.

 

"So, we haven't been able to sell it and so we've just decided that when our lease is up, we have no option but to close it down,” he said.

 

The newsagency industry is in a "period of change" and facing significant new risks, according to  Andrew Ledovskikh, senior analyst at the business intelligence organisation IBISWorld.

 

Ledovskikh told the ABC that the industry has struggled over the past decade or so with falling circulation of newspapers and decreased readership of physical magazines with everyone turning to online content.

 

He said the pandemic and shift to online platforms have seen the newsagency industry decline

 

The industry is valued at about $1.5 billion but is expected to struggle and revenue is expected to decline by two per cent over the next five years, Ledovskikh said.

 

"Over the past five years, particularly with the impact of COVID and continued shift to online platforms, we've seen the industry decline at around 5.5 per cent annualised."

 

“Over the same period, about 300 newsagents in net terms have left the industry”, he said.

 

Newsagencies have diversified by offering lottery sales, gifts, collectibles, and convenience products.

 

But even gambling and lottery tickets have now moved online and "that's starting to kind of pinch into the industry's revenue,"Ledovskikh added.