by Brett Ainsworth, Publisher

Inside these pages every week are numerous stories about the issues of our towns, triumphs of our people and, even, our losses. Under appreciated, perhaps, are the businesses that advertise. Not only do these advertisers look to serve your needs, their dollars support this independent, locally-owned newspaper’s service to all of us.

This week The Retrospect is sending free copies to other local businesses on the Haddon Avenue corridor to encourage their participation in these pages by advertising. Our veteran sales vice president Steve Miller may be reached by cell at 856-524-2814 or by email at steve.miller@theretrospect.com for advertising in print and our website.

Regular readers will notice that the advertisers in our pages are almost entirely local and that’s for good reason. They, too, value our readership and wish to serve the immediate community.

Their participation remains vital to these pages - without them our subscription and newsstand prices would have to more than double. I encourage our subscribers to thank existing advertisers and to nudge local businesses not already in our pages to give us a try.

Personally, I always look to our advertisers first and not just because their support helps fund The Retrospect. They, too, are members of our community and are as invested in its success as I am.

With the onset of the covid pandemic The Retrospect, like newspapers across the country, saw a substantial drop in advertising revenue, one that still has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, inflation continues to put heavy pressure on the business side as every aspect of our work has become substantially more expensive. We continue to look for ways to pay the bills and meet the needs of our customers.

Many of you will recall that last year we invested in a much-improved online presence along with a digital e-Edition to better serve our subscribers and advertisers. I am pleased to report that, as of last week, that effort now covers its own expense. However we’re not at a point where that revenue will contribute to the overall expense of running a newspaper.

Meanwhile the entirety of The Retrospect’s staff has been working together with me to chart a healthier financial and journalistic future for this 123-year-old enterprise. In the coming months we plan to provide advertisers with better options to get their message out to our community. As a business we recognize that those businesses, too, need to see value and a return for their dollar.

So I’m asking our subscribers along with advertisers, current and future, to recognize the value of providing a truly local newspaper. Again, those interested in the value of advertising in The Retrospect can reach Steve Miller by cell at 856-524-2814 or by email at steve.miller@theretrospect. \com.

To subscribe, if you don’t already, sign up on our website at theretrospect.com and click on Subscribe at the top of the page. You may also scan the QR code or fill out the subscription form and mail it along with a check from our subscription ad on page 9 of this week's issue.

I may also be reached by cell at 609-332-4954 or by email at publisher@theretrospect.com. Thank you for supporting our community newspaper!