Old ladies 'wish to stay healthy to sell newspapers for the rest of their lives'

The city at dawn, stacks of new newspapers smelling of ink neatly arranged on the newsstands waiting to be handed out to regular customers or passersby. All are memories of the lives of newspaper sellers and readers today.

Ms. Thu Huong (74 years old), owner of a newsstand that has existed for half a century through two generations in Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City used to have two famous "newspaper streets" on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Ly Chinh Thang streets. Ly Chinh Thang newspaper street was the busiest because it had more than a dozen newspaper stands on the sidewalk. In the morning, customers would stop by to buy newspapers. The hottest leading daily newspapers could sell out within the first hour or two of being on the shelves.

The newspaper ladies

Now, on Ly Chinh Thang Street, there is still a newsstand owned by Ms. Dinh Thi Nga, 66 years old, who has been selling newspapers for 30 years on the sidewalk, making it convenient for people to stop and buy newspapers. "My husband and I still sell newspapers to keep the joy of many years and also to serve many regular customers who like to read paper newspapers" - Ms. Nga said. Not far away is the newsstand at 2 Ky Dong Street owned by Ms. Mai Xuan Dung, 65 years old, which has also existed for more than 20 years.

"I hope to have the health to sell newspapers for the rest of my life. As long as there are buyers, I will continue to sell newspapers" - shared by Ms. NGUYEN THI NGOC ANH (72 years old).

On Nguyen Duy Trinh Street (Thu Duc City), there are many regular customers at the newspaper stand in front of the house of “Mrs. Tu, a three-generation newspaper seller”. The newspaper stand used to be big, but now it is reduced to a small shelf, but every morning many people still buy newspapers and go to the coffee shop next door to read. There are regular customers who come by on their motorbikes every day, take the newspaper from the shelf themselves, and give the exact amount of money to Mrs. Tu without asking the price.

At Thi Nghe Market in Saigon, newspaper buyers know the 3m wide newspaper shop of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh, which has existed since April 1990 at 8 Phan Van Han Street. At the age of 72, Ms. Anh still rides her motorbike to get the newspapers at 2am every day and then opens the stall at 4am. She is moved to express her gratitude to the distribution departments of the newspapers for their support and sharing of discounts to maintain daily newspaper sales for many regular customers who have come to the stall every morning to buy newspapers and support them for the past 35 years.

One of the oldest newspaper stands in Ho Chi Minh City - more than 50 years old - is near the Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc Memorial (corner of Nguyen Dinh Chieu - Cach Mang Thang Tam), with a long history from parents to children. The two long-time newspaper sellers are two sisters Thu Lan (77 years old) and Thu Huong (74 years old).

The two elders always carefully put the newspapers in bags so that they are not affected by the sun and wind before reaching the buyers. “In the past, the stall sold thousands of newspapers a day. Now there are many fewer buyers, but we still sell them every day to our regular customers,” said Ms. Thu Huong.

Music producer Ha Thanh Phuc expressed: “Nowadays, paper newspapers are gradually becoming a memory, but they will always have a certain place in the hearts of many people who are used to receiving news in the traditional way”. For the old ladies who sell newspapers through many sunny and rainy days, although their income is meager, some have degenerative spines due to many years of carrying and stacking stacks of newspapers, but they have never thought of stopping selling and leaving their long-time newspaper customers. Because their newspaper stall is not only a place to earn a living but also a place to strengthen meaningful relationships, when newspapers are handed over every morning.

Love through printed newspaper stalls

At the end of April 2025, the newspaper stand at the beginning of an alley on Dien Bien Phu Street of Huynh Kim Nga (75 years old) that had been selling newspapers for nearly 30 years no longer existed because Ms. Nga suddenly passed away due to heart disease. Mr. Giang Ngoc Phuong, Deputy General Director of Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Company, who has been buying newspapers at Ms. Nga's stall for the past 25 years, sadly shared: "Ms. Nga has been selling newspapers since she retired from working as a nursery school nanny in the 80s until now. The newspaper stand is not only a source of income, but also a source of joy and communication for the elderly. The old couple's newspaper stand has helped many children grow up and start their own businesses. The newspaper stand maintains a free cold water dispenser (now that she is no longer here, the neighbors maintain it). Now when I pass by, I still have the habit of looking at the empty space at the beginning of that alley."

Ms. Ngoc Anh (72 years old) opened a newsstand at Thi Nghe market at 4:00 a.m. on June 19, 2025.

Many newsstands have been downsized, many elderly newsstand vendors have passed away, but fond memories of the newsstands remain. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, 60 years old, always remembers the image of his parents, Mr. Nguyen Van Ra (1927-2023) and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ut (1930-2005), who spent decades selling newspapers in Binh Thanh during their lifetime. Mr. Nam said: “My parents loved newspapers. They passed that love on to their 11 siblings. Since I was a child, I have helped my parents sell newspapers at the newsstand, and for me, newspapers are a great source of knowledge.”

Bao Tin

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202506/nhung-cu-ba-mong-khoe-de-ban-bao-suot-doi-84c0c43/