Minneapolis newspaper Southwest Journal to stop publishing at end of 2020

Thursday morning, the Southwest Journal announced it would cease publishing at the end of 2020.

The Minneapolis newspaper that covered the southwest neighborhoods of the city announced its last issue would be released on Dec. 24.

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce that, like many other community businesses, Southwest Journal has been impacted by the COVID pandemic," the paper’s cofounders Janis Hall and Terry Gahan said in statement on the publication’s website. "Our advertising sales are down by over 30 percent this year and this latest decline follows a years-long loss in newspaper revenue."

The Southwest Journal has been publishing since 1990 and has built a circulation of 32,000, according to the website.

Hall and Gahan said they had been attempting to sell the paper, as well as the magazines Minnesota Parent and Minnesota Good Age, for over a year.

The two said the paper remains up for sale and that they "would be happy to find a buyer who loves print as we do."