SEPTEMBER 2 - 9, 2026
THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE FOR GRAND JUNCTION BUSINESS & COMMUNITY NEWS SINCE 1994
Making every drop of water count
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VOLUME 33, ISSUE 35
THEBUSINESSTIMES.COM
Owners of 2 True Value stores change name to Bob’s Hometown Hardware—See Page 2
Brandon Leuallen The Business Times
imited water supplies, rising irrigation costs and the urban heat island effect are creating overlapping challenges for Grand Junction and the surrounding region as the population continues to grow from in-migration. For some residents, drought pricing and limited irrigation supplies this year have meant paying considerably more to keep lawns, trees and shrubs watered. Others have allowed landscaping to decline or paid to convert traditional landscapes to lower-water alternatives, including xeriscaping and zero-scaping. Conserving water and/or avoiding higher water bills, however, does not necessarily have to mean eliminating vegetation altogether. While there is no silver bullet, conservation practices gaining popularity in other dry climates south of Colorado could, where appropriate, help address all three challenges in the region’s high-desert climate. Over the past two decades, some Southwestern cities, including Tucson, Ariz., have increasingly used water capture and reuse to hydrate soils as they face many of the same, and often more severe, challenges as Grand Junction. Grand Junction has more recently legalized and incentivized some of these practices, but awareness and widespread adoption have yet to follow. See story Page 5
Name change for hardware store Store co-owners Mark and Jeannette Neal stand next to a sign with the new logo for Bob’s Hometown Hardware, formerly Orchard Mesa True Value, at 2686 U.S. Highway 50. The name change was revealed in August and reflects a break from the True Value retail brand while becoming truly independent and honoring Jeannette Neal’s father, Bob Frederick, who opened the True Value hardware store there in 1983. The Neals also own the former Grand Junction True Value, 1838 N. 12th St., where they did the same rebrand and installed the Bob’s Hometown Hardware exterior sign Aug. 21. Photo by Tim Harty.
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