By: E&P Staff Toppenish, Wash.-based Yakima Valley Newspapers has bought the Penny Press and Thrifty Nickel from the family-owned Shields Bag and Printing in Yakima, Wash.
Terms were not disclosed in the transaction, which was announced by Yakima owners Mike and Pat Lindsey.
The transaction includes the 22,350-distribution Thrifty Nickel, which hits the streets on Thursdays, and the 28,350-distribution, which circulates on Fridays. The deal also includes the twice-monthly Auto Mall, an automotive tab combined with the two shoppers.
Production equipment includes a six-unit web offset press, Mac composing equipment and computer-to-plate (CTP) processing.
A Shields spokesman said the family, which had owned the shoppers since 1973, wanted to focus on its plastic bag business and explore other expansion opportunities.
Yakima Valley Newspapers publishes the 10,000 weekly Review Independent/Central Valley Shopper in Toppenish; the 2,500 weekly Selah Independent; the 15,000 weekly free Spanish newspaper Viva; the monthly 7,700 Yakima Valley Business Journal; and the annual Visitor, a 96-page Washington guidebook that distributes more than 70,000 copies statewide.
Mike Lindsey, who also runs the newspaper brokerage firm Media Consultants Inc., said the shoppers are a good fit that provide "a number of economies with the consolidation of our production, printing, bookkeeping and marketing departments."
Editorial and sales staffs will remain in offices in Toppenish and Selah, Lindsey said. The new company will employ about 25 full-time and 10 part-time people out of the three locations.
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