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But he may soon be hitting the snooze button.
“I’m anxious to see what it’ll be like that first morning not getting up for work,” said Waxman, who operates the newsstand daily from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m.
His newsstand’s lease will expire in late May, when he will decide whether to renew it. Waxman told The White Plains Daily Voice that he will likely not renew. Among the reasons, the White Plains resident cited his customer’s changing purchasing habits. Instead of reading newspapers or magazines on their way to work, customers now get their news on smartphones, which Waxman says has hurt his business. His newspaper sales have decreased by 60 percent and magazine sales by 75 percent, he said.
Vending machines installed on the train platform since he took over the newsstand from his father in 1983 have also cut into his business, Waxman said.
“You can only take so much out of a person,” he said.
Waxman said he has made many friends chatting with daily commuters, including his current girlfriend, Jeanette. She missed her train home to the Bronx one day about four years ago after work at the White Plains Marriott. He offered to give her a ride since he also lived in the Bronx.
“We hit it off and moved to White Plains together recently,” Waxman said.
If he closes the newsstand, Waxman said he looks forward to spending time with his elderly mother, who is in her 90’s. But, he said, he doesn’t plan on retiring and will find something else to do.
While Waxman said he is unhappy about the migration away from newspapers and magazines, he is happy to have worked at the newsstand. Above all else, Waxman said that after 30 years running Waxman News, he felt it was time to move on.
“I have no regrets,” Waxman said.
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