Newspapers and magazines have become more collectible items than news sources, but even that trend isn't enough to save Shanghai's last post office-owned newsagent from closing at the end of year.

Jiang Jun, 65, who operates a store on Wusong Road in Hongkou District, has watched the rise and fall of print for nearly 40 years. This year, what were once 10,000 newspaper and magazine shops run by the post office in the city will drop to zero.

His shelves and countertops still display neat stacks of newspapers and magazines as they have always done, but demand for them has declined dramatically. The shop mainly serves some older regulars who don't want to access daily news via mobile phones, and its survival has been supported somewhat by a rise in younger customers on the lookout for collectible editions.

"We have nearly a hundred regulars," Jiang said. "Based on their needs, I stock a bit more for walk-ins. For 80 percent of them, they don't have to ask for what they want. I already know it."

The death of print journalism has been forecast over the years but has never quite eventuated, though print dominance as a source of news has tanked. According to The Press, a professional Chinese media journal, the decline of Chinese print media began around 2009, with demand dropping 27 percent in the next four years.

Print media still survives in China, though some publications have closed and most media companies have turned their focus to digital news.

It's a global phenomenon. Some newspapers have been forced out of business by dwindling circulation and ad revenue, like the New York Sun and Washington Examiner. Others have been forced into mergers, like four major suburban papers in the San Francisco Bay Area. And still others have dropped print editions to go wholly digital, like the UK's Independent and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in the US.

Jiang has seen it all in his 37 years in the business. He began working for China Post in 1978 as a newspaper deliveryman. In November 1988, after the previous manager retired, Jiang took over the kiosk, which ran on a system whereby manager earnings were based on sales.

Back then, the shop was little more than a stall. Jiang sold newspapers from a pushcart, rain or shine. It wasn't until 1997 that the shop moved into its current storefront.

The 1990s was a heyday for print media. According to Jiang, there were nearly 10,000 postal outlet kiosks like his across Shanghai. Whenever major national events or government announcements happened, newspaper sales surged. A single kiosk might sell 400-500 copies of the popular local Xinmin Evening News in a single day.

Newspapers were more than just information. They were part of the city's social fabric and the source of neighborhood conversations.

In the mid-1990s, China initiated economic reforms that led to widespread layoffs at state-owned businesses. In response, Shanghai government launched the Oriental newsstand initiative to help re-employ laid-off workers. At the peak of the project, there were 3,000 Oriental newsstands. Most have since closed.

Throughout all the changing times, Jiang has retained a deep fondness for print media.

"It's hard to replace the credibility of print news," he said. "On a mobile phone feed, you never know what's real and what's fake. One day a person is dead and the next day he's alive again."

Jiang reached retirement age in 2019. At first, he welcomed the thought of a relaxing break, but he finally decided to stay on and see out the kiosk's remaining years.

His longstanding customers will mourn its passing.

Zhang Xiwen, 80, has been buying three newspapers there for decades.

"I don't read news on my phone," Zhang said. "If this shop closes, where will we elderly people get our papers?"

"I still prefer traditional media," said a 65-year-old regular customer surnamed Hua. "I need my newspapers. I hope they never disappear."

With print papers becoming harder to find, some customers make long trips to Jiang's shop. Even after official closing time, Jiang will stay open if he receives a phone call or WeChat message from a customer on the way. His workday is typically more than 13 hours a day, beginning at 6am.

Surprisingly, more than half of Jiang's customers today are middle-aged or younger people seeking special editions as collectibles.

Several days ago, a fan of table tennis world champion Fan Zhendong bought 20 copies of Oriental Sports Daily that featured Fan. Jiang even mails special orders to requests from other provinces of China, mostly media highlighting athletic stars.

"Some young people treat these papers like fan merchandise," said Dai Qian, head of Niche Shanghai, a sub-brand of Shanghai Daily.

When the box office hit movie "Ne Zha 2" was released earlier this year, Shanghai Daily printed two special editions featuring the animated film and its characters. More than 23,000 copies were sold.

Jiang recalled the time a courier came to picked up a coveted copy of a sports newspaper. The delivery worker charged a 70-yuan service fee – 35 times the publication's 2-yuan cover price.

"The customer was willing to pay," Jiang said, "because the newspaper wasn't available anywhere else."