Photo: Tayt Harlin
Two inexorable facts of New York life these days — the slow death of print media and the fast rise of rents — are claiming another victim. Global Ink — the ne plus ultra of Upper West Side magazine shops and one of the most well stocked in Manhattan — will shut its doors next month after eight years at Broadway and 112th Street. The store, admittedly, had all the charm of a Kmart, with faux-wood floors and blinding halogen lights, but it was one of the few still around that carried something for everyone with an interest in the printed word, from Bonsai Today to Military Machines International to WAD. The owner, Essam Moussa, blames rapacious magazine distributors for his store’s demise, but he also noted in a farewell letter posted Thursday that technology has “reduced the need for hand held publications.” Great. So this is now partially our fault, too? Sigh. —Tayt Harlin
