Battle Creek's last 'newsie' Bob Reichel will stop selling papers downtown after 30 years
BATTLE CREEK - For over three decades, he was there every Sunday. If he wasn't there, that was the real news of the day, not what was in the papers he was hawking.
Bob Reichel is possibly one of the last American 'newsies'. Standing on the corner of Capital Avenue and Van Buren Street in downtown Battle Creek, as 'that newspaper guy' - he has sold the Sunday morning paper for almost 31 years.
But after this Sunday, he will step away from that role, signifying an end of an era - and that's the real headline here.
"This will be my last Sunday selling papers.. It's been a good run... I'm going to miss it," Reichel said, ironically breaking the news on Facebook, and now allowing for it to be said in the very newspaper he sells, as he spoke to the Enquirer this week.
"I do have a real job, another focus in life, but delivering the news has been an important part of what I have done over the years.... and I'm proud of that."
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Reichel, a member of longstanding Pennfield Township family, has been part of the fabric of the Sunday morning experience in downtown Battle Creek for more than 30 years. As the church crowd arrived, or folks were driving downtown for other reasons, selling to them through their car windows, he was there handing out the Sunday edition of the Battle Creek Enquirer, as well as other papers like the Detroit Free Press and New York Times.
And the lineage of selling papers at the corner goes back even further than that. According to Reichel, a family associated with St. Philip Church - the Baumans - sold papers at that same corner going back to the 1960s and into the early 1970s. Then, Reichel's uncles - the Kalinosky brothers - took over in 1976 - each starting when they were young teenagers and each taking over for the other one when the older ones were ready to move on.
Reichel picked it up from there, standing post starting in 1993.
During those early days, there might be 300 newspapers sold on a given Sunday from seven different cities - including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Grand Rapids Press, Kalamazoo Gazette, Wall Street Journal and the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Even 10 years ago, he would still sell about 200 papers. But, in recent years, he has had closer to 25 steady customers who have depended on him for their cherished morning paper - a hard copy of something many grew up with enjoying, but has more and more been replaced by a digital copy.
"Some of my customers have been buying papers from me the entire time, and even from my uncles - so maybe 50 years or so. It will be a big change for them not to be able to get their Sunday paper that way. And for some, they might not know what to do, when it comes to buying something like the New York Times, because that's not really sold anywhere else here in town," Reichel said.
Patty Hartman, 69, who has been going to St. Philip Church for 30 years and buying the newspaper from Reichel nearly every week, is sad to see his run end.
"It's his personality, he makes you feel real welcome. He always jokes with you when you drive up to get a paper. He always made sure the papers were always there. A few times, he would deliver it to my house for me, when I couldn't get out. It's sad he isn't going to be doing it any longer, but I understand his reasons," Hartman said.
The fact he has meant so much to so many is not lost on Battle Creek Mayor Mark Behnke. Behnke, who also often would buy an edition of the paper on those Sundays, is making plans to honor Reichel with a city proclamation on his final day this weekend.
"The service he provides is a community service, really. He is not doing it because he made a lot of money selling newspapers," Behnke said. "He provided a service by selling those papers, but he was also someone you looked forward to talking to every week. He was friendly, gregarious.
"He has been doing it a long time. And, as newspapers started to dwindle, he had to work even harder, but he kept at it. I personally will miss him a lot and we are going to send him off on Sunday with a little award to thank him for almost 31 years of hard work."
Reichel said he has only missed a handful of Sundays over the three decades he has been selling the paper. And, if he did have to miss, there was always a substitute there for him, maybe a family member or a friend, stepping in. He hasn't heard of any plans for anyone else to step up and take his place, going forward, as there is less and less call for it and it would take, "someone who is really ambitious."
"When you think about it. Someone has been there every Sunday for the last 60 years and that's coming to an end, so that's a bit sad," Reichel said. "It's been a lot of Sundays. Even some interesting Sundays.... a couple of near misses with vehicles almost hitting me. But overall, they all kind of blend together."
Reichel said part of the reason he is stepping down is to spend more time with his family, mainly following his sons who play baseball at Kellogg Community College and Glen Oaks Community College. He was asked what his Sundays will look like moving forward when he no longer has the ink stains on his fingers and a smile on his face for everyone he would meet.
"I'm going to miss my Sunday morning on the corner, when it's nice out...maybe not so much the winter Sunday mornings. But I will miss my people every Sunday," Reichel said. "I'm guessing next Sunday, I might wake up at 5:30 just like always and wonder what to do.
"But this Sunday will be special. Many people have reached out to me and said they want to be there this Sunday to see me one more time. I'm glad that's happening and people know about it because I want to give a huge thank you to all my customers from over the years. It will be an emotional day for sure."
Bill Broderick can be reached at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Battle Creek man will end run of selling papers downtown after 30 years
