Aug. 18, 2021

After more than 80 years, the Sioux Falls Shopping News is ending publication.

The last issue will go out next week.

“It’s a changing world, I think, that is making that happen,” said president and publisher K.A Lesnar, who took over the publication in 1973.

Lesnar, an accountant, had gone to the publication to do an audit when the primary investor asked if he was interested in becoming a partner.

The paper was founded in 1939.

“In our particular industry, newsprint costs have gone way up. It’s followed lumber, and it hasn’t gone down,” Lesnar said.

“And we had several major clients that were doing other things, and I saw the handwriting on the wall a lot with Target going non-insert, Best Buy and Walgreens non-insert, and there’s a few more folks doing the other things.”

Last year, Lesnar sold his former location at 4005 S. Western Ave., which included Western Commercial Printing, to Cimarron Label. Some of his employees transitioned to jobs there at that point.

Cimarron Label is using the team, facility and production capacity to service its growing label division. Cimarron partnered with Panther Premier Print Solutions to service the commercial printing relationships.

There were still 17 staff members associated with the Shopping News, which moved across the street, Lesnar said.

“We’re helping them (find other things). I let them have time off to go interview,” he said.

The Shopping News also worked with the St. Francis House and the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House to offer work to the homeless.

The paper was delivered weekly to more than 70,000 households in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area.

“We are getting a lot of calls from people saying ‘what are we going to do,’” Lesnar said. “But the world is changing so much I decided to politely shut it down … and the inserts we had, I gave a 30-day notice.”

For Lesnar, it has been the work of a lifetime. He puts in seven days a week, often arriving by 7 a.m. As his advisers told him: “You’ve had a good run, you’ve been working this a long, long time, and you’re here seven days a week. Don’t you think you should enjoy instead of doing this?”

He ultimately agreed, while acknowledging he likely never will be fully “retired.”

“I’m young at heart yet,” he said. “A big thank you for the many years and many wonderful customers.”