BUSINESS stories are consistently among the most popular of the many articles written by the Western Advocate's journalists each week.
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That's not stories about warriors in expensive suits buying low and selling high on the sharemarket or CEOs with sharp haircuts running sprawling operations.
The business stories that our readers enjoy are about businesses here in the city - from the one-person endeavour in a loungeroom to the small shop in Keppel or George street to the local outlet of a nationwide franchise.
And why? There could be a number of reasons, but there are two strong possibilities.
First, business stories are often about something tangible, rather than philosophical: about someone doing something, making something, taking a chance, rather than someone talking about doing something or talking about taking a chance.
If it's a local business moving to a new location, or adding to its current site, or trying out a new way of doing things, it will be obvious the next time you walk or drive past.
The other possible reason is that a lot of Bathurst business stories are, in the end, about optimism.
An investment in a business here - whether starting from scratch or expanding - is an investment in and endorsement of the city.
It's an expression of confidence that the conditions are right for someone to be willing to take a leap of faith with two of the most important commodities at their disposal - their money and their time.
In the past week, the Advocate has featured stories about Woolworths' almost $800,000 development application for a drive-through "direct to boot" pick-up service and former professional cyclist and now local businessman Mark Renshaw getting ready to open his second store in the region.
There was a story about a food business preparing spring antipasti boxes and vegetable boxes and a continuation of the many letters about the proposed multi-storey medical centre in the CBD.
And then there was this telling detail in a story about Oberon coming out of lockdown: the town's Royal Hotel threw open its doors at 12.01am - the earliest possible time it could start operating again under the government's rules.
Who knows how many people were waiting outside, but that's obviously a business that really wanted to get back to business. And that's a story people want to read.
