Tenant sought for closed business

Downtown News, a longtime newsstand on North Boulevard, has closed.

The newsstand shut down Friday, said Snappy Jacobs, who manages the property.

“The newsstand business is not what it used to be,” said Robert McClaren, who owned Downtown News and still runs the City Newsstand on George O’Neal.

McClaren said he has no plans to close the south Baton Rouge location, which he said is more of a destination with ample parking.

“The downtown location was half convenience store, half newsstand,” he said. “We didn’t get enough foot traffic and walk-ins.”

Downtown News operated for at least 80 years, McClaren said.

“Every historical event of the 20th century went through that store,” he said.

Jacobs said the long-term prognosis for the nearly 1,300-square-foot space on North Boulevard is good.

The property sits across from the recently built 19th Judicial District Courthouse and the North Boulevard Town Square and down the street from the II City Plaza office building.

“This is a more attractive place to do business than it was in a long time,” he said. “There are a lot of people interested in the space.”

Jacobs said he’s looking for the appropriate tenant.

“The prospects we are looking at and talking to, they would create 10 times as many jobs as there were at the newsstand, which only kept one person employed at a time,” he said.

Downtown News is one of several high-profile downtown businesses to close recently, along with the Red Star bar and the AT&T store at Third and Florida streets.

McClaren recently sold part of his stake in the L Bar downtown and plans to reopen it as a live music club, Mud and Water.