THE
Section
SAHOPPING NEWS CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
of Lancaster County
S ERVING O VER 38,000 H OMES
Find Us On Facebook!
Wednesday, april 15, 2015
•
Volume l, no. 1
•
• student spotlight • coupon page
1965-2015
20¢ perr Copy
read The Full issue on The Web:
In this week’s issue:
WWW.sneWs.com
around Town 1965-2015 Also see our complete calendar of events in The Bulletin Board, in this section! 14 January 22, 20
November 12, 1986
look in this week’s Things To do section starting on page 13a for:
15
April 1, 20
Thursday, april 16, Friday, april 17 & saTurday, april 18
April 14, 19
• Gehman’s mennonite school chicken bbQ, bake sale & yard sale • brickerville Fire company bingo • durlach/mt. airy Fire company community yard sale
65
• Fivepointville Fire company breakfast buffet
Friends of the Adamstown Area Library will hold their Annual Used Book Sale at Peace Church Fellowship Hall, 37 East Swartzville Road, Denver, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Looking Back.... 1965
saTurday, april 18 The Annual Clay Elementary Spelling Bee will be held at Clay Elementary School, 250 Clay School Road, Ephrata. Admission is free. Food stand opens at 5:00 p.m. and Bee starts at 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, april 21 The Lititz Public Library, 651 Kissel Hill Road, Lititz, will hold a film screening of “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. For more information or to preregister, call the library at 717626-2255.
Wednesday, april 22 The Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley will sponsor “The Massacre of the Conestogas” at the Ephrata Public Library, 550 South Reading Road, Ephrata at 7:00 p.m. No admission charge. For more information, call 717-733-1616 or email hscv@cocalicovalleyhs.org.
Above: (Top) John Hocking serving in the Army Air Force in tthe he mid-1940s mid-1940s. (Bottom) John and Janie Hocking in 1990.
Right: The Shopping News staff at the groundbreaking for new construction in 1986. Below: The Shopping News staff in December, 2014.
John W. Hocking had a vision. He had opened a one-man print shop in 1953, at the age of 27, but he had bigger bi plans. He wanted to create a newspaper ne dedicated to publishing local lo community happenings and events ev of interest. After months of hard ha work by John, his wife Janie, family fa members and friends, the very ve first issue of The Shopping News hit the streets on April 14, N 1965. The paper began as a 19 1/2 1/ tab, 24-page booklet mailed bi-weekly to only 10,000 homes. bi
1972
2015
Business thrived over the following years and soon outgrew the Hockings’ original building on Orange Street in Ephrata. In 1972, the plant on East Main Street was purchased. The building was originally a planing mill, but was renovated for use by The Shopping News.
Janie Hocking passed away November 21, 1993, and John Hocking passed away January 19, 2014. The business is now owned and operated by their daughter, Julie Hocking, who was born three months after the first issue was published. Her management team of Harold Wenger and Pam Boyer, along with all of the other Shopping News staff, continue to work diligently to deliver a quality paper to your doorstep each week! Today, The Shopping News is a full tab newspaper employing over 75 people. The paper is delivered weekly to 38,000 local homes and businesses in Lancaster County, as well as parts of Lebanon and Berks Counties. The Shopping News has been recognized by a national free paper organization for its dedication to customer service and for printing a superior newspaper.
1986 In February 1986, a fire destroyed the East Main Street building completely. The Shopping News missed only one week’s delivery. Thanks to the dedication of the employees, friends and business associates, the rebuilding began on the first business day after the fire. For the next eleven months, many aspects of the production of the paper were handled by Kapp Advertising in Lebanon, while construction continued on the new facilities. The new East Main Street building was finished and occupied by June 1987.
SPRING 2015
Car & Truck
Above Above: The Lincoln Avenue garag garage where Hocking Printing began in 1953. Left: 24 East Orange Street, hhome to The Shopping News uuntil 11972.
GUIDE
llnn This This hi Issue! I !
Join us throughout the coming year as we celebrate 50 years of serving our community! D you have any special memories Do oof The Shopping News? Perhaps you ffound your first job, car, or a special ffamily pet in our classifieds. Do you oor a parent have fond memories of working with John and Janie over w tthe years? Share your memories with us and we may publish them in w aan upcoming issue. Drop them off aat our office, located at 615 East Main Street, Ephrata, email us at snews@ptd.net, or send us a message us on Facebook.
B Below Below: w: The East Main Street building, completed in 1987, as it stands today.
Above: The original building at 615 Eastt Main Street, which served as The Shoppingg News from 1972 to 1986. Right: Crews battle the blazee on February 7, 1986 6