These elderly women 'hope to stay healthy so they can sell newspapers for the rest of their lives'

In the city streets at dawn, stacks of freshly printed newspapers, smelling of ink, sit neatly on newsstands, waiting to be handed to regular customers or passersby. All of these are memories of the lives of both newspaper vendors and readers today.

Ms. Thu Huong (74 years old) owns a newspaper stall that has existed for half a century across two generations in Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City used to have two famous "newspaper streets" on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Ly Chinh Thang streets. Ly Chinh Thang street was the busiest, with more than a dozen newspaper stalls lining the roadside. In the mornings, customers would flock in to buy newspapers. The hottest, most popular daily newspapers could sell out within the first one or two hours of being put on the shelves.

The old women who sell newspapers

Now, on Ly Chinh Thang Street, there's still the newspaper stall of Ms. Dinh Thi Nga, 66 years old, who has been selling newspapers for 30 years on the roadside, convenient for people stopping their cars to buy them. "My husband and I still sell newspapers to maintain the joy we've had for so many years and also to serve many regular customers who like to read print newspapers," said Ms. Nga. Not far from there is the newspaper stall at number 2 Ky Dong Street, run by Ms. Mai Xuan Dung, 65 years old, which has also been in business for over 20 years.

"I hope to have the health to sell newspapers for the rest of my life; as long as there are buyers, I will continue to sell newspapers," confided Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh (72 years old).

On Nguyen Duy Trinh Street (Thu Duc City), many regulars frequent the newspaper stand in front of the house of "Mrs. Tu, a woman who has sold newspapers for three generations." The stand used to be large, but now it's a small shelf. However, every morning, many people still buy newspapers and then go to the nearby coffee shop to read them. Some regular customers arrive daily on their motorbikes, take a newspaper from the shelf, and give Mrs. Tu the exact amount without even asking the price.

At Thi Nghe Market in Saigon, newspaper buyers know about the 3-meter-wide newspaper stall of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh, which has been operating since April 1990 at 8 Phan Van Han Street. At 72 years old, Mrs. Anh still drives her motorbike to pick up newspapers at 2 AM every day and then opens her stall at over 4 AM. She gratefully expresses her appreciation for the support and shared commissions from the newspaper distribution departments, which have helped her maintain her daily newspaper sales for many regular customers who visit her stall every morning for the past 35 years.

One of the oldest newspaper stalls in Ho Chi Minh City – over 50 years – is located near the Thich Quang Duc Bodhisattva Memorial (at the corner of Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Cach Mang Thang Tam streets), with the business passed down from parents to children. The two long-time newspaper vendors are sisters Thu Lan (77 years old) and Thu Huong (74 years old).

The elderly couple always carefully put the newspapers in bags to protect them from the sun and wind before they reach the customers. "In the past, the stall sold thousands of newspapers a day. Now there are far fewer buyers, but we still manage to sell to our regular customers," said Mrs. Thu Huong.

Music producer Ha Thanh Phuc expressed: "Nowadays, newspapers are gradually becoming a memory, but they will always hold a certain place in the hearts of many people who are accustomed to receiving news in the traditional way." For the elderly women who sell newspapers through the sun and rain, despite their meager income and some suffering from spinal degeneration due to years of carrying and stacking newspapers, they have never thought about quitting or leaving their long-time customers. Because their newspaper stalls are not only a place of livelihood but also a place that strengthens close relationships, as newspapers are exchanged each morning.

Kindness and camaraderie shared through newspaper stands.

At the end of April 2025, the nearly 30-year-old newspaper stand at the entrance of an alley on Dien Bien Phu Street, run by Mrs. Huynh Kim Nga (75 years old), ceased to exist due to her sudden death from heart disease. Mr. Giang Ngoc Phuong, Deputy General Director of Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Company, who had bought newspapers from Mrs. Nga's stall for the past 25 years, sadly shared: “Mrs. Nga sold newspapers since she retired from her job as a kindergarten caregiver in the 1980s. The newspaper stand was not only a source of income but also a source of joy and social interaction for the elderly. The stall run by the elderly couple helped many children grow up and establish themselves. The stall maintained a free cold water dispenser (which, now that she is gone, the neighbors continue). Even now, when I pass by, I still have the habit of looking at that empty space at the entrance of the alley.”

Ms. Ngoc Anh (72 years old) opened her newspaper stall at Thi Nghe market at 4:00 AM on June 19, 2025.

Many newsstands have shrunk, and many elderly newspaper vendors have passed away, but fond memories of those newsstands remain. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, 60 years old, always cherishes the image of his parents, Mr. Nguyen Van Ra (1927-2023) and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ut (1930-2005), who sold newspapers in Binh Thanh for decades during their lifetime. Mr. Nam recounted: “My parents loved newspapers. They passed that love on to their 11 children. From a young age, I helped them sell newspapers at the stall, and for me, newspapers were a great source of knowledge.”

Buu Tin

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202506/nhung-cu-ba-mong-khoe-de-ban-bao-suot-doi-84c0c43/