Paris kiosks mark 100th anniversary

TODAY is the 150th anniversary of the iconic green Paris newspaper kiosk and the city is celebrating with an exhibition outside the Hôtel de Ville.

Now spread to some other cities in France, the octagonal green kiosks with their fronts and sides covered in newspapers and magazine advertising have become a feature of daily life in the capital – where they are as emblematic as the Morris advertising columns or the Wallace fountains.

Each day the first kiosk opens in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré at 4.30 and the last ones close nearly 22 hours later at 2.00, but problems in the newspaper industry meant they almost went the way of the equally iconic Parisian pissoirs, which have all but vanished.

There are fewer than 340 news kiosks left in the capital and the city has already shown support with €200,000 aid to be shared out between the present owners to tide them over during the present publishing crisis. The city has already extended the list of products they can sell to include Ville de Paris publications, souvenirs, drinks and sweets.

French company Mediakiosk, a subsidiary of JCDecaux, looks after the kiosks and has plans to increase their numbers to 370 over the next year. They already get support from Ile-de-France residents as they voted in a poll in February that they were a “vital part of local life”.

To find a map of all the Parisian kiosks, go to Paris news kiosk map