Newstand at Westfield train station closed after 33 years

WESTFIELD, NJ (MY9NJ) - Murray Perch has worked at New Jersey's Westfield train station newsstand for 33 years.

Perch is retiring at age 65, but he's got young energy. He's retiring by choice -- family reassignment.

"My daughter asked me to babysit. I'm going to be a grandfather. And that's the truth," Perch said.

Marsha Salisbury has been getting her morning coffee from Murray on the way to the train as long as she can remember. He's the first person she speaks to each day.

"He sometimes brings it out to me if I'm running for the train. And for 33 years he's been doing that -- and he knows just about everybody in the neighborhood," Salisbury said.

Through his newsstand window, Murray's seen the decline of print newspapers. He still carries a dozen different papers but orders only a fraction of what he used to.

As for the stand itself, it's declared historic and it can't be torn down. The loose plan is to renovate it and maybe find someone new to run it -- most likely the highest bidder. But who?