If you’ve ever picked up the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business and wondered how it all started, here’s the short version: Some publications happen by accident, but this one was built on purpose.

In 2001, the Journal, founded by Melanie Hoefer, took shape around a simple but important idea: The Tri-Cities deserved a publication where local business news wasn’t buried on page 12, but front and center. When that first issue rolled off the press in January 2002, the region was growing fast, development was picking up, and business owners needed practical, hyperlocal information they could use. That’s what we set out to provide, and honestly, our focus hasn’t changed.

We cover the Kennewick-Pasco-Richland metropolitan statistical area – a two-county region with a population now topping 322,000 in southeast Washington – and we’ve grown right alongside it.

What started as a monthly print publication has expanded into a full business media platform: print, digital, specialty magazines, e-newsletters and live events. Our free e-newsletters, including the daily Morning Edition, bring that same hyperlocal focus straight to subscribers’ inboxes Monday through Saturday.

We acquired the Senior Times in 2013 and began holding senior-focused spring and fall expos that now draw 500 or more attendees. The expos bring together dozens of exhibitors focused on healthcare, retirement planning, senior living and more, alongside entertainment, food and plenty of free vendor goodies. They’ve grown into more than a trade show – they’re a community gathering.

Special publications

Today our special publications cover the topics that matter most to the regional economy – from two standalone glossy magazines launched in 2018, Focus: Real Estate + Construction and Focus: Agriculture + Viticulture, to dedicated special sections on Hanford cleanup, energy, and the region’s emerging young professional talent.

Our Best Places to Work issue spotlights the top employers in the area as determined by employer and employee surveys, and our Book of Lists has become an indispensable reference for anyone doing business in the Tri-Cities. It’s packed with key contacts, sales leads and comprehensive local business data.

We’ve also partnered with the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities to produce its Parade of Homes magazine that showcases new home construction during its popular fall house-touring event.

Our readers are educated, engaged and typically the ones making the big decisions at their companies. That’s not us bragging; it’s just who finds value in what we publish. It also means that when you advertise with us, you’re reaching exactly the audience you’re after, more directly than any other local outlet can deliver.

In 2022, after more than two decades of independent growth, we entered a new chapter under Cowles Company, a fourth-generation, Spokane-based media organization that’s been part of the Pacific Northwest fabric since 1890. We continue to operate independently here in Kennewick under Mid-Columbia Media Inc., a Cowles subsidiary, with our local team running day-to-day operations just as they always have.

Award-winning journalism

Our reporters and team have earned national journalism honors annually since 2024 – recognition that reflects the caliber of their work. We’re a member of the Alliance of Area Business Publishers, a professional organization dedicated to strengthening local and regional business journalism – and we believe that kind of commitment matters.

Live events

We also bring the community together in person. Our signature events – Best Places to Work Mid-Columbia, Young Professionals and Tri-City People of Influence – are where business leaders and emerging talent meet each other.

The “why” of our business has always been straightforward: We want to help the Mid-Columbia region build a stronger economy and a more vibrant community. Everything else – the newspaper, the e-newsletters, the events, the magazines – flows from that.

Along the way, we’ve picked up some recognition we’re proud of, including being named the 2026 Small Business of the Year by the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, the 2015 Mid-Columbia Micro Business Award, and the 2003 Mid-Columbia Young Business Award. We don’t mention them to boast but because they reflect the work of a remarkable local team.

More than two decades in, the mission hasn’t drifted. We’re still here to inform, connect, and elevate the Tri-Cities business community. And we’re grateful every month that you’re still reading.