Mesa County real estate market holds steady

Phil Castle, The Business Times Annette Miller most often uses the word steady to describe the real estate market in Mesa County. While the number of transactions lags slightly behind last year, the combined dollar volume of those deals slightly outpaces last year. Meanwhile, the property foreclosure activity that tends to pull down prices has […]

Confidence index: Consumers less upbeat

What had been for four months a steadily increasing measure of consumer confidence in the United States has retreated on less upbeat assessments of labor and business conditions. The Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell more than eight points to 86 in September. Assessments of current conditions as well as short-term expectations […]

Economists: Small business conditions improving, but obstacles remain

Phil Castle, The Business Times While economic conditions are slowing improving for small businesses in the United States, obstacles continue to slow growth — among them government regulations and political uncertainty. “Things are heading up for small businesses, but the pace is too slow,” said Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist of the National Federation of Independent […]

Putting the work and force into the workforce center: After 16 years of bringing things together, administrator leaving

Putting the work and force into the workforce center:  After 16 years of bringing things together, administrator leaving

Phil Castle, The Business Times Sue Tuffin has made a career out of bringing things together, in particular the myriad services offered at the Mesa County Workforce Center she’s run since the center opened in 1998. The center provides a range of services to people looking for employment, not to mention businesses looking for employees. […]

Entrepreneur offers schools free use of video-editing software

Phil Castle, The Business Times A Grand Junction entrepreneur who’s developed video-editing software that combines powerful features with ease of operation believes his product has a lot to offer in the classroom. And he’s inviting schools to try it out. The first 100 Colorado schools that sign up for the initiative will receive free use […]

Inventive couple not resting on laurels

Phil Castle, The Business Times Barely a year after its very first sale, a fast-growing Grand Junction company is well on its way to expanding distribution of its unique storage system across North America. A new product is under development as well, along with potential new markets. But Dave and Jenny Hall, the inventive couple […]

Director: Many factors drive success in development game

Kelly Flenniken sees similarities between Monopoly and economic development. Success in both the board game and promoting business attraction and expansion depends on access to capital, utilities and relationships — not to mention moving pieces around as the need arises. “GJEP does these things, too,” said Flenniken, executive director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership. […]

Mesa County jobless rate retreats

Phil Castle, The Business Times The monthly unemployment rate in Mesa County has dropped below the 6 percent milestone for the first time in nearly six years as indicators reflect improving labor conditions. “That is a good sign. It kind of shows the trend of improvement over the last several years,” said Suzie Miller, business […]