Phil Castle, The Business Times While the Mesa County economy hasn’t yet returned to pre-recession levels, indicators reflect improving conditions, according to an economist long involved with compiling a statewide forecast. “Overall, you’re getting back to some growth and normality,” said Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the business research division of the Leeds School of […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Peggy Page expects she’ll most miss her customers and time spent not only helping them select jewelry for special occasions and celebrating with them the best of times, but also commiserating with and even praying for them during the worst of times. “We just really care about them,” says Page, […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times A better mousetrap? Fahgettaboudit. What this country really needs is a good lazy Susan. Nearly every kitchen includes a corner cabinet inside which can be found rotating circular shelves typically filled with seldom-used containers of spices. But few people actually like lazy Susans or ever put all that space to […]
The business and economic outlook for Mesa County will continue to “trend positive” for 2017, according to the latest results of an annual forecast for Colorado. The assessment is based in part on the prospect of further diversification of the local economy, programs offering tax incentives for new businesses and jobs and the quality of […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times A former Grand Junction entrepreneur who developed software to make it easier to shoot and edit videos has expanded his operation to help real estate professionals market their listings. Bill Baird, founder and chief executive officer of Loopster, now offers what’s branded as Loopster 4 Real Estate. “We have high […]
An executive who’s worked in the telecommunications industry nearly three decades has been appointed executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Stephanie Copeland is expected to begin her new duties in January. She will succeed Fiona Arnold, who’s served in the role about two years. “I am thrilled to become […]
The City of Grand Junction has revamped its website to offer a better user experience and cleaner look. “Our website had not been redesigned since 2011, and many web trends and industry standards have changed in that time. We are glad to be able to offer an improved website experience to the end user,” said […]
Phil Castle, The Business Times Real estate activity in Mesa County through 11 months of 2016 has exceeded all of 2015 — not to mention what Robert Bray initially had anticipated for this year. “2016 has clearly exceeded my expectations, and I’m happy that it has,” said Bray, chief executive officer of Bray Real Estate […]
Payrolls continued to grow in the United States in November even as the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in more than nine years. According to the latest Labor Departments estimates, nonfarm payrolls increased 178,000. The jobless rate decreased three-tenths of a point to 4.6 percent, the lowest reading since August 2007. The initial […]
Thanks in part to a big gain in November, a measure of consumer confidence has returned to pre-recession levels. The Conference Board reported its Consumer Confidence Index jumped 6.3 points to 107.1 That’s the highest level since the index stood at 111.9 in July 2007. The increase comes in the midst of the holiday shopping. […]