By Sarah Gilmour
Starting this month, Centretown residents can enjoy a morning coffee and bagel while reading the Shanghai Daily, or even the Manila Times.
Local news store owner Ted Britton, of Britton’s news stores in the Glebe and Westboro, says he first heard about an international newspaper printing service while travelling in Europe. He first saw one in Australia in 2004.
A friend showed him a machine, and asked what paper he would like to read.
“I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, how about the Toronto Star?’ Well, in two minutes, I had Toronto Star from the same day under my arm,” says Britton.
Satellite News, a Netherlands-based company, has set up similar electronic newspaper kiosks around the world that print out newspapers from over 190 countries. Britton is the first in Canada to offer the service.
“The majority of the papers it offers are not available in most parts of Canada,” he said.
With the press of a few buttons on a screen and the swipe of a card, Britton says, you can have the day’s newspaper from any number of countries print out of a slot for about $4.75.
The price will depend on the size of the paper, and will help offset Britton’s printing costs and the newspaper’s royalty fees.
Britton has also hired delivery staff to deliver the international newspapers to houses, hotels, embassies and businesses.
“It’s not yet something everyone knows about, as compared to Europe,” says Karina Tettero, a Satellite News business manager, in a telephone interview from her California office. “But it’s definitely growing.”
The printed newspapers are black and white and printed on both sides of folded pages about the size of this newspaper.
Since Ottawa is in one of the world’s last time zones, most newspaper will be available to print off or be delivered as early as 5:30 a.m.
Britton says he had mused over the idea for two years before teaming up with Shahab Bakhtiar. Together, they set up a first kiosk at Mega Wraps on Elgin Street.
The team is still tinkering with final plans to get the machine running, but promise the news service will be available any day now.
Britton and Bakhtiar plan to open up two or three more in Ottawa, and eventually more in Toronto and Vancouver.
Though international news can easily be found online, Britton says having a hard copy to take on the bus or to have outside your door in the morning is something many of his customers prefer.
“Online there can be subscription fees to get access,” says Cameron Siles, a self-described news junkie. “I have an appetite for news from abroad … I want to give this a try.”
Siles says he had also seen similar news kiosks on cruise ships and at hotels in the Caribbean and found it helpful to read the news from home while travelling abroad.
Britton said he anticipates the news service will be popular with foreign tourists in Ottawa and residents with foreign interests. He said he has already taken down names of interested customers and can’t wait to see the project boom.