The Hillsdale Daily News changed locations from downtown Hillsdale to across from Wendy’s on West Carleton Road. The smaller space will lower rent costs, though Executive Editor Jamie Barrand said the paper is doing fine financially.
“Our revenues have been and continue to be strong, but we are always looking for proactive ways to help our bottom line,” she said. “By cutting costs in overhead and services we have in the past gotten from other sources, we have been able to maintain staff and have not had to cut anything in the way of pay or benefits.”
Barrand feels confident in the paper’s future because it is a “niche product.”
“I have always been a community journalist, and I think smaller papers like ours are the ones with the brightest futures,” she said. “Metro papers have to compete with the large national and international news outlets; we don’t have to do that. We give our readers things they can’t get anywhere else.”
The paper’s circulation hovers around 6,000 with a steady stream of advertisers, according to Multi-Media Sales Manager Lisa Vickers.
“Everybody wants to say that newspapers are going away, but that’s not the case,” Vickers said. “We’ve been here over a hundred years and we don’t plan to change.”
Vickers said that her office has also expanded their options for advertisers. They can design websites, mobile sites, or turn a standard website mobile.
“It’s something we have in our arsenal,” she said. “Businesses are leaving out a huge part of their customers that might want to search and see what they have to offer.”
The new building is smaller with four tight workspaces holding two or three desks each.
“It’s quite a bit smaller, but we weren’t utilizing a lot of the [old] building,” Vickers said. “I think we’re in a good location, and it’s easier for folks to see us as they drive to lunch. It’s a little bit more compact, but the functionality is the same.”
Andy Barrand, a reporter for 20 years who began working for The Daily News in October, said that he’ll adjust to the change.
“I miss being downtown, but this is more economical for us,” he said.
charper@hillsdale.edu
