Editor’s note: In response to reader feedback, I decided to experiment with sending The Lookout midday Saturday rather than Friday evening. Like it? Hate it? Let me know what you think in the comments!—Dave.

Reports of print newspapers’ death have, for the most part, not been greatly exaggerated. The anemic staff and obscene delivery price of The Richmond Times-Dispatch can confirm. But beyond the broadsheets, there are flickers of promise for print focused on niches, driven by nostalgia, screen exhaustion, and maybe some conspicuous consumption, too. And what could be more niche than a newspaper by and for the customers and neighbors of Church Hill Lookout’s only used bookstore?

Earlier this spring, I stopped by Brian’s Books, a snug little mid-block shop on P Street that trades in physical media of many flavors, from rare comic books to mass-printed paperbacks. After I bought a Philip Roth novel I still haven’t touched—but plan to!—proprietor Brian Baynes pressed a small flyer into my hand. It read (emphasis mine throughout):

As both a customer and a local writer, I felt called to kick in some copy. I told Baynes to expect some satire from your humble Lookout editor, and perhaps some poetry from litter critter-at-large Penelope Poubelle, too. Then… ah… I did not deliver.

Luckily, Baynes did. In early April, he published Short Stop’s inaugural issue, eight pages of proper newsprint brimming with essays, poems, and other printed oddities. “I've met so many people that I probably wouldn't have met otherwise [being] in this public space,” he told The Lookout by phone earlier this week. “I thought it would be fun to get all these people to contribute to something and make it like, really low-stakes.”

Baynes printed up 2,000 of Short Stop’s first run at a website called—wait for it—MakeMyNewspaper.com, which he found via to the comic-book writer/artist Dash Shaw, an acquaintance. “When you're printing newsprint, and you get into higher amounts, things start to really get a lot cheaper,” he said. (He declined to say for the record how much he spent on printing costs.) “I wanted to have too many [so that copies] would be in the store for hopefully a couple months or so.”

Copies are still available at his eponymous shop, which is open today 11am-6pm for Independent Bookstore Day. In a sign of the times, they are free: after all, it’s a lot easier to keep print alive as a passion project and/or marketing gambit than as a for-profit enterprise these days.

Baynes, who has lived in Church Hill since 2014, has toyed with the idea of dropping off some copies at stores outside the neighborhood, but that’s as far as he plans to circulate Short Stop. “I’m not trying to make it into a bigger thing, I don't hope that it becomes some nationwide thing or statewide thing,” he said. “It's just a fun Richmond newspaper.”

Building an alternative local audience for physical media is a bit of a calling card for Baynes, who previously worked at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA), The Byrd Theater, and the Greater Richmond Convention Center before opening the bookshop in May 2025. To wit: on the back page of Short Stop is an ad for Bubbles Con, a comic/manga convention that he has organized in Richmond for the past two years. The show’s third run on May 30th will see scholars and artists from around the country interviewed live on stage at Richmond Public Library’s main branch; after, there will be screenings of short films by attendees Akino Kondoh and Carlos Gonzalez at the ICA. Much like Short Stop itself, Bubbles Con is free to the public.

“I'm just always interested in doing stuff for free,” explained Baynes, noting that many “cons” have become prohibitively expensive to attend. “The way you participate in those events is you spend money, and this event, you don't have to spend anything, you just can come and listen to people speak.”

As for Short Stop (so named because Baynes likes the sound of the baseball position) submissions for the next issue are open on a rolling basis. Its founding editor is hoping for more nonfiction work this time around, but only casually. “I’m happy with anything,” he said, so long as it falls within 15-1000 words and comes from somebody who has picked up a copy of the paper or stopped by the shop. Once the submitted work reaches a critical mass, he’ll place an order for Short Stop’s second edition.

It’s a loose deadline. Let’s see if Penelope and I can hit it this time.

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

On Tuesday morning, Sapporo USA announced plans to sell off its Stone brand to Duvel USA’s Firestone Walker and repurpose the sprawling plant on Williamsburg Road to exclusively brew the Japanese conglomerate’s flagship lager. Though I live less than half a mile from Stone’s ill-fated Richmond outpost, I was actually in Philadelphia at the time covering the Craft Brewers Conference, an annual trade show hosted by the Brewers Association. Go figure. From the show, I filed some quick industry-oriented analysis on the sale for VinePair, the booze publication at which I work as a contributing editor and columnist (scroll down to “VP Pro Take”):

The local implications of the deal are still unclear. (If you work at Stone Richmond, or know somebody who does, get in touch. Anonymity available!) Just over a decade ago, city leaders put together a $31-million incentive package to lure the then-already-cooling Southern California brewer to the East End for its expansion to the Atlantic seaboard; state and local grants totaled another $7 million. Tourists, Stone cofounder Greg Koch promised in 2015, “will spend money on hotel stays, local shops and local restaurants,” including a riverside location of the firm’s World Bistro, which would occupy the soon-to-be redeveloped Intermediate Terminal Building.

Ah, memories. Of course, Stone Richmond has never turned into much of a destination for local drinkers, let alone out-of-town tourists, and the terminal building remains a blight on E. Main St. to this day. Now, the trade outlet Brewbound reports that (emphasis mine):

Of additional note, Stone’s Richmond workforce attempted to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters last year, ultimately losing the election after bosses at the parent company spent $100,000 on “persuaders” to swing the vote. For VinePair, I covered that drive, which garnered support from former 1st District councilmember Andreas Addison. At the time, I reached out to longtime 7th District councilmember to inquire whether she supported the drive and had any comment about the union-busting, given she was in office when City Council approved the eight-figure bond offering for Stone’s brewery, and it operates in her district. She did not respond.

On Thursday evening, around a dozen Lookout supporters gathered over drinks at Patrick Henry Pub’s underrated above-ground patio for this newsletter’s inaugural in-person outing. At the risk of arbitrarily declaring my own initiative a success based on unpublished metrics… I think it went pretty well! So well, in fact, that I took exactly zero photos of the event. But I really was out on the town having the time of my life with a bunch of friends, and they were laughing too. Honest!

In all seriousness, it was a real treat to meet so many people who believe in local, independent media enough to spend some hard earned beer money on it each month. And then to spend even more beer money on actual beer to socialize with one another, too! Very cool. Thanks to everybody who came out last night, and to everybody who has helped to fund The Lookout so far. Paying supporters: keep an eye out for the next Lookout Hangout invite in your inbox!

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Email it to [email protected] with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.