And it’s our sincere hope you can’t get enough of us. After all, starting on Jan. 8, 2025, the Business Times will be published every week on Wednesdays.

Why is the Business Times going weekly, you must be asking? And you should. Because as dedicated readers, you know darned well under the editorship of Phil Castle, the Business Times became a well-oiled machine in bringing its readers quality, local, business coverage in its twice-a-month format. We’d dare say Phil almost perfected it. Certainly, for Grand Junction, it has been as good as it gets.

And we’ve been honored to be a big part of your newspaper reading for the past quarter of a century or more. So naturally, and if we’re being honest a little slowly, we’ve made the decision to do more. Why slowly? In full disclosure, we’ve been asked on many occasions the past decade to give serious consideration to doing a weekly paper. We’ve always thought it a good idea. Our main problem? We’d have to start from scratch with a completely different publication and when the business model was basically two guys with nothing better to do every couple of weeks, the little voice in the back of the publisher’s head kept saying, “It ain’t broke so there’s nothing to fix.” So, our two-man show rolled on like the Gunnison and Colorado rivers merging into one grand publication.

And then, necessity became the mother of invention. Phil retired. And when the only pony trick remaining in the left-behind publisher’s stable is a newspaper, he had no choice than to go into action. After all, the newspaper business is all he’s known for the past 25 years, and it’s the last job he’ll have. That is, if all goes according to plan. If initial reactions are any indication, it’s going to go even better.

And here’s why. Our readers and advertisers have always come first at Grand Junction’s little newspaper that could. And they are the first folks we rely on for feedback and, more important, for being able to feed the staff.

And here’s what they told us. They’d love more from and of the Business Times. And as they do now, they said they’d never miss an issue and support our efforts with their advertising. Just like those asking us to do a weekly over the years, they realized a weekly, local, business-first paper would be a great asset in the Grand Valley.

But they also told us the one other piece of information that solidified our decision to finally make this move. While the Business Times has always been the obvious, go-to publication for Grand Junction and Grand Valley business news, it has become so much more for the residents of our beautiful area of western Colorado.

And it’s that we’re looked at as a newspaper of the community.

After all, what do we do stories on? We now know the better way to phrase that question is WHO do we do stories on?  When we look at it, it’s friends, neighbors, businesses and institutions our readers know and love. So, our tagline really should read: The definitive source for Grand Junction business and community news since 1994. And beginning this issue, that’s exactly how it will read. Because all of our stories begin with business and Grand Junction and the surrounding communities in mind.

We’re fully committed to this new way to provide our readers and advertisers with more of what they want while doing the business changes we’ve been pondering for quite some time. And while the papers will be a little smaller with more frequency to start, we don’t think it will take long for the Business Times to grow with more stories, content and advertising opportunities.

Please know, as much you want to read more stories about your friends and neighbors, we want to tell them even more. And when we all do the right thing for our community, we all win.