Copies of the New York Times were in short supply Wednesday as New Yorkers bought them in bunches to commemorate Barack Obama's historic election as the first black president in U.S. history.
Suburban convenience stores and city news stands were quickly sold out of the NY Times, which featured a picture of President-elect Obama and his family under the one-word headline "Obama." People were buying 20 copies at a time, according to a spokesperson for the paper.
Lines were wrapped around the block at the New York Times building in Times Square Wednesday afternoon as hundreds of people waited for hours to get a copy of the paper.
“I got seven already,” said Patti Hagan, who literally ran to the Times building from the subway stop and then waited in line multiple times because the Times was only handing out one paper at a time. “But my friend suggested that I should wait on line one more time to get 8 copies to represent 8 years of Obama as president.” Hagan campaigned for Obama for the last ten months and is proud her work has paid off big. At 3 p.m., as a soft rain started to fall, the line outside snaked around the entire front of the building and halfway down 41st and 42nd streets. And more people hopped on after hearing it could be their last chance to get the treasured paper today.
“I’m going to frame one of them,” said Tina Shoulders, 32. “I have this little treasure box, where I keep stuff things I want my son to see later on in life, I am going to put one copy in there.”
Just after 4 p.m. chants of “Yes, we did,” and “Obama,” broke out as a Times delivery truck arrived once again, this time with over 5,000 copies to distribute to the crowd – for the regular fee of $1.50. Thousands more were delivered to Penn Station and to Grand Central.
The NY Times printed an additional 75,000 copies Wednesday afternoon on top of the 400,000 copies they previously circulated. A spokesperson said they have not seen a demand like this since Sept. 11.
Local
The NY Daily News is planning to distribute 100,000 copies of an Election Extra with Michelle and Barack Obama on the cover at commuter locations during the evening rush hour.
The New York Post declined to comment on any post-election circulation specifics.
"We had a great sale and we are delighted," a New York Post spokesperson said.
