Louie is a six-foot-tall (and growing) house plant and the shop greeter at Alpine Autohaus. He was passed down from the original owner with the adage, “If Louie is doing well, the business is doing well.” According to Alpine Autohaus’ owner, Sean Cotter, Louie is doing very well. Alpine Autohaus opened in 1995 as a one-man operation. Cotter was hired in 2013 when the original owner was ready to move on and with the understanding

When Grand Junction’s only quilting store closed it’s doors in the Fall of 2013, the local quilting community was devastated. With the closest quilting venue hundreds of miles away, avid quilter, Bea Root, and long time quilting buddy, Tracy Miller, decided that something needed to be done. The idea began forming late last year, and Bea, after being referred to the Small Business Development Center by a close friend, signed up for the Pumping up

For Jim Jeffryes, brewing beer had always been a source of refuge from his stressful job in technology. That is, until 1998 when he decided to jump into brewing beer full time. Although Jim had brewed beer recreationally, he had never done it in the quantities he was going to need to support a brewery, so after purchasing land on 9th & Struthers in Grand Junction, he enrolled in beer school and took Leading Edge

Long time SBDC client, Jody Ahrens, is no stranger to starting and running a successful small business. Jody was an attendee at the first Leading Edge course offered by the Grand Junction SBDC in 1986. She attributes the success of her first business, Evergreen Productions, to the knowledge she gained in that class. She learned the basics of starting and running a business and the proper way to keep books and do the day to

Stephanie Witwer’s dream of creating high quality, all-organic cold press juices to help individuals live healthier, came to life at an event early in 2015. She met Jon Maraschin, Executive Director of the Business Incubator Center, who encouraged her to attend the SBDC’s Leading Edge course in February. Stephanie did and was inspired to launch her business from the Business Incubator Center’s Commercial Kitchen a few months later. After moving into the Business Incubator Center,

CrossFit Juke Joint (CFJJ) is a box, not a gym. Unlike gyms, CrossFit facilities (boxes) do not house treadmills or 20 weight machines. They resemble a box with four walls that contain weights, ropes, and bars. However, perhaps the most important piece of equipment a box can carry is a sense of community – something CFJJ owner Sung Hong cares deeply about. An accomplished martial artist, Hong was first introduced to the CrossFit lifestyle while