Kiosks and news stands have been part of the fabric of Melbourne railway stations for decades. But how many still exist today?
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The obvious
The tacky ‘Red Engine’ kiosks on each platform at Flinders Street Station first come to mind.
But they were demolished in 2018.
As part of the Flinders Street Station upgrade project.
To make room for more seats and waiting area on the narrow platforms.
The exception is the kiosk at platform 1, built into what looks to be an original timber kiosk.
Interchange stations
Busy interchange stations are a popular location for kiosks, like this one hiding down in the Caulfield station subway.
And this one on the main concourse at Richmond station.
Others are located inside the paid area of the station, like this one at Box Hill platform 2 and 3.
This Red Engine kiosk at Ringwood platform 1 and 2.
And this one at Camberwell platform 1 and 2.
Or on the overhead concourse, like at Sunshine.
While Dandenong has an interesting arrangement, with one window facing platform 3 and the the other facing the bus interchange.
In the City Loop
The City Loop might be surrounded by cafes, but the underground stations still have cafes down on the concourse, like this one at the Collins Street end of Parliament .
While Flagstaff station has two.
A newsstand when I photographed it, but now a doughnut stall.
Melbourne Central also used to have a WHSmith newsagent kiosk way down on platforms 3 and 4.
But business must have been poor – it was soon turned over to a row of vending machines.
Converted trains
There is a Red Engine kiosk in the subway at Werribee station.
Built from the remains of scrapped Comeng train 388M.
In the way of passengers
There was once a kiosk on the concourse at South Yarra station.
The kitchen area hung out over the tracks.
But it still blocked the ever increasing number of passengers using the station, so it was removed to make room for more ticket gates.
New build stations
Recent years have seen railway stations rebuilt across Melbourne, and kiosks seem to be popular inclusion to new buildings. Here we see a new kiosk facing the Epping station forecourt.
This one at Ginifer.
And St Albans.
New kiosks are also built on a speculative basis, like this empty one at Rosanna station.
And on the small side
At suburban stations kiosks are much smaller and only open part time, located at the entrance to the citybound platform to catch morning commuters, like this one at Clifton Hill platform 1.
This one jammed into a corner of the elevated concourse at Laverton station.
Or outside the old Murrumbeena station.
And a similar one at neighbouring Carnegie station.
But they are outnumbered by their abandoned mates, like this pebblecrete clad box outside St Albans platform 2.
At Burwood station platform 1.
And Yarraman station.
And the way of the future?
Why rent a kiosk, when you can just park a coffee cart on the platform, like this one at Hoppers Crossing?
Or this one in the underpass at Auburn station.
But even easier – park your coffee van in the station car park, like this vendor at Albion.
Or skip Public Transport Victoria altogether and park on public land near the station, such as this vendor at Tottenham.
Footnote
Not quite a kiosk is the classic Olympic Doughnut caravan of Footscray.
Established back in 1979, the van outlasted the rebuilding of the station footbridge in 2010, but relocated to a new home in 2014 following the rebuilding of the station itself.
But sadly it closed in 2017 due to the advancing age of owner Nick Tsiligiris.
The little (disused) kiosks were not quite the same as modern day ones.
In the ’70s and ’80s every station had one; invariably on the Up side. For stations built post WWII (and possibly since the ’20s) they’d be built into the station structure. The primary focus was as a sub-newsagency (they were usually run by the local newsagent). They were only open during the morning peak and sold reading matter to commuters: newspapers and popular magazines (Women’s Day etc). They’d also sell confectionary and soft drinks. I can’t remember any that sold hot food, but I have a vague memory that some would have an urn and sell tea and instant coffee.
The one on Flinders St Platform 1 is, indeed, the original.
Thanks for that. Back in those days newspapers would be far bigger selling item than today, and Melbourne’s obsessive coffee culture didn’t even exist.
There used to be a boot and shoe repairer kiosk on Belair St at Kensington, I guess the theory was that you dropped you repairs off on you way to work then picked them up on the way home … and more than kiosks but the two big city subways, Degraves St and Spencer St …
The kiosk at Rosanna is no longer empty.
Cheers – I visited shortly after the new station opened.
I love how the ad agencies who look after the kiosks have obviously used public transport fairly extensively. You couldn’t come up with a slogan like “second lap of the City Loop” without having done it.
Another kiosk says ‘When you’re using TramTracker at the train station’.
I had not even noticed the one at South Yarra has been removed. It was very useful to buy a good and cheaply priced sandwich.
The little one outside Hawthorn station was for a few years, a great little coffee shop where people gathered and chatted in the morning. Metro decided to double the rent to force a to their own provider and then nothing happened with it. So sad.
It’s visible in the 2017 Google Street View run, but missing from all the others.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8220105,145.0234653,3a,39.4y,304.21h,85.81t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqcAjIt4NYhdr0-C1LVV8Gw!2e0!5s20170201T000000!7i13312!8i6656
The community consultation process for Murrumbeena station identified a lot of community support for the kiosk at Murrumbeena station and measures were taken to keep it open during the building process and a new kiosk location was provided in the finished station precinct. However a combination of factors led to its demise:
Its new location was not as prominent.
Changed passenger flows from having two entrances made it impossible to have the concentration of passenger flows near or past a single retail point.
Not being near the station car park-station passenger flow.
Increased cross line pedestrian permeability gave better for citybound passengers resident on the south side of the line access to competition in Neerim Rd.
A new café opening in Railway Parade last year.
You mentioned Rosanna, in the years leading up to grade separation there was a kiosk operating out of the repurposed ticket office in the mornings. Its a few years ago now so my memory isn’t great, but I’m pretty sure they also sold Myki cards and top ups. Interesting…
At Armadale, the kiosk on the Cheel St side of the station has been closed, apparently for safety reasons. There are ugly supports beneath it, blocking part of the platform. Ratepayers have been told that the structure is heritage-listed, so can’t be demolished (as VicTrack or Metro, not sure which) would like, but of course neither they nor Stonnington Council want to pay for it to be properly restored (probably very expensive). So there’s a stand-off and the structure is now a bit of an eye-sore.
In the meantime, the former lessee now operates from the small newspaper kiosk at the top of the ramp to the island platform.
I forgot about Armadale!
https://railgallery.wongm.com/crumbling-armadale/
We had a delightful kiosk on Craigieburn station when it was a VLine station, staffed by Annie, known and loved by all regular commuters.
The station redevelopment as part of the extension of the Broadmeadows line to Craigieburn omitted a kiosk, which would have been well patronised. A shame.
The omission of a kiosk from the station station is a little odd, but then again the scope of upgrades at Craigieburn was massively cut back from their original plans:
https://wongm.com/2015/07/craigieburn-station-never-built/
Camberwell station had/has a kiosk on platforms 1/2.
I forgot Camberwell – here is a photo looking down on it.
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