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Arriving at Portland State University from Chicago, Karin Dibling missed newsstands. You know: the sidewalk kiosks where tabloid headlines shout scandal in neat stacks. They’re a staple of big cities, a cliché in the movies, and all but missing from Portland.
Except in one hallway on Southeast Division Street. “I’m the only newsstand in the city,” Dibling says. “I’m probably the last person in Portland to sell this stuff.”
Certainly, there’s no shop in Portland quite like The City Reader, which Dibling founded in 2014. It sits in the central corridor of apartment complex D Street Village, tucked between Tight Tacos and an Eb & Bean fro-yo joint. (It feels right that the only newsstand in this rainy burg is indoors.) Dibling, 55, occupies a stool next to the racks. The merchandise? Glossy, independently published magazines. There’s no newsprint in sight: Dibling stocks periodicals, the thicker the better.
She recommended a trio of favorites, including McGuffin and Noema. This reporter left for the coffee shop with a copy of music magazine Maggot Brain (which, by happy coincidence, featured an article by Robert Ham, author of Reason to Love Portland #14).
If the newsstand was an anomaly when it opened, it feels like a bulwark now—a paper fortress in a hall of black mirrors. But The City Reader manages to do a steady business, though Dibling didn’t care to discuss numbers. “It’s not huge, but it’s enough to keep me going,” she says. “It’s a lifestyle choice, let’s put it that way.”