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 Ventanas has celebrated another year, and despite the difficult economic times for both the housing and magazine industries, we have continued to provide quality editorial on new homes, home improvement and interior design. We have featured many local and regional custom home builders and featured many new residential communities over the years.
Many of our advertising customers, as well as our company, have been directly impacted by the difficult conditions for home building. We extend our thanks to them for their continuing support and wish them success in finding a pathway to weather these times. “Difficult times do not last, but strong people do.”
We have a loyal group of subscribers and we extend our thanks for your continuing interest and readership.
Over the last ten years we have been constantly looking for ways to improve Ventanas editorial and maintain the quality of our photography. I believe we have met that challenge and have never compromised quality for profit. This philosophy will not change.
We, like all publishers, are reorganizing and finding ways to stay profitable while maintaining our product. We have made a number of cost saving steps and staff reductions over the past year and now have a profitable organization with strong core talent to lead us through 2010 and Beyond.
Ventanas’ sister magazine, ¡Sabroso! has also had to meet the challenges of the difficult economy and has maintained its editorial and photographic quality. I believe we have not compromised product or quality in ¡Sabroso!. We thank our !Sabroso! advertisers and subscribers for their continuing support. Restaurants are also suffering during these times, and we want to continue promoting dining out.
The thought came to me that we need to take certain steps to ensure these magazines go forward in 2010 and beyond. If each of these magazines are great now, what would be the product of joining them together into one stunning expanded magazine? Then we thought of adding additional editorial on people and places around West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Even better! This new magazine will still be titled Ventanas and will have all of the elements of the present Ventanas, the present ¡Sabroso! and more.
The “New Ventanas” will be large. The “New Ventanas” will give both readers and advertisers expanded value. Typically, in business when companies merge; the new entity is stronger and better. We believe this applies to the merger of Ventanas and ¡Sabroso!
When will this all take place? At the end of April the Spring edition of the “New Ventanas” will be out. The traditional Ventanas editorial will once again cover Home Improvement and Remodeling, and there will be feature homes that have been remodeled, feature builders and supplier recommendations as well as outdoor living area makeovers and gardening tips. ¡Sabroso! will cover entertaining at home with a spring menu, a weekend getaway to Tucson’s El Conquistador Hotel, a primer on Thai Cuisine which features two Thai restaurants, updates on our Let’s Go Out entertainment venues, great barbecue recipes and more. The new expanded editorial section will be Vida Fronteriza and will have articles on interesting people in the region, the architectural philosophies of UTEP and NMSU, information on parenting, health and wellness, beauty tips, homeopathic teas, book reviews and great finds.
We are excited! The “New Ventanas” will be a very special magazine and a true asset to the region. Even though El Paso and southern New Mexico have their own governments, their own culture and their own style, there is a greater common ground than there are differences. Ventanas will be a magazine all can recognize as their regional magazine.
Bob Skolnick
Publisher / President
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