Susanna Freymark
For 20 years Ros and Lyn Ward have run the newsagency in Walker Street, Casino.
Ros turned 74 yesterday, Monday, September 16, and retirement is well overdue, she said.
The newsagency has been on the market for five years but with no buyers, Ros and Lyn are shutting up shop at the end of October.
They plan to stay in Casino and spend time travelling to see their grandchildren.
Running the newsagent involves long hours.
“We open at 5am,” Ros said.
They used to open at 3.30am when the Northern Star was published.
“We had to be here at 3.30am to roll the papers every day,” Ros said.
They did this for years.
The Lotto part of the business is going to the tobacco shop TSG shop further along Walker Street this Saturday, September 21.
Ros couldn’t say enough good things about the Casino community.
“They are always friendly,” she said.
Ros said they have been flexible to help out the community.
On Saturdays we shut at 12, then at 4pm we get a call that someone needs coloured cardboard for their kid’s school project and we’d open up the shop, Ros said.
The newsagency will continue to operate and everything is on sale. Once everything has sold, the shop fittings will be for sale.
When the shop closes doors at the end of October, there will still be two newsagencies in Casino – West Casino Newsagency and Post Office and Plaza News. Luci Mac Lotto and Gifts at the Coles Shopping Centre also does Lotto and some magazines but is not an official newsagent.
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