A first-of-its-kind newsstand on the 16th Street Mall has closed just two weeks after it opened.
Owner Molly Graham said she shuttered the NewsCube kiosk this month primarily because of concerns about theft and employee safety.
She also ran into regulatory problems with selling cigarettes at the stand and showing TV programming from sets mounted on the kiosk at 16th and California streets.
“It’s something I felt really could be good for Denver,” Graham said. “But I had to make a decision from a business standpoint for the security of my workers and the protection of my inventory.”
She said theft of magazines and other items from the kiosk occurred “on a daily basis” and left her concerned over possible confrontations between her employees and shoplifters.
A major problem, Graham said, was that the NewsCube’s four open sides made it hard for employees to monitor customers.
She proposed closing one of the sides, installing security mirrors and placing a portable fence on one side.
The Downtown Denver Partnership, which regulates mall vendors through a business-improvement district, declined to allow Graham to make the changes prior to a series of reviews.
“We have a process that needs to be followed,” said Jim Kirchheimer, senior director of economic development for the partnership. “We try to make sure that we don’t make knee-jerk decisions.”
Graham said she couldn’t endure more theft losses while awaiting approval.
She declined to quantify the losses or her investment in the kiosk but described them as “significant.”
Graham said the partnership also told her that the Denver Department of Public Works vetoed her plan to display sports and news programming on televisions because commercials that accompanied the programming would violate a city ordinance banning advertisements on public property.
A spokeswoman for Public Works said she could not comment.
Kirchheimer said the partnership is “as disappointed as Molly is” with the closure.
He said the kiosk represented a new retail style that the group is encouraging to add vitality to the mall, including recently opened coffee and crepes kiosks.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
