One of our more popular online stories this week is the story about Rite Aid closing its store in La Grande. The company announced this week that Thursday, April 20, the store would close its doors permanently.

This kind of news is necessary to report, but clearly, we never want to see a business shuttered. In addition to just the aesthetics of a vacant building, there are employees and their families impacted by this decision. Those families are our neighbors and friends and to know they are suddenly going to be without a job is troubling on a number of different levels.

Businesses come and go, of course, but Rite Aid is a national firm that has been a mainstay in m any areas of Eastern Oregon for decades so to hear of the decision by the company to close the La Grande store is unfortunate.

Obviously, we will continue to report on this story. Covering economic development in eastern Oregon is an important element to what we do and it provides our readers with the knowledge they need regarding the local business climate. Economic development anywhere, but especially in rural areas of the state, is always to some extend a gamble. One can never know when, or if, a new business or corporation will arrive to open its doors and provide employment.

Hopefully the vacant Rite Aid building can be occupied by another merchant within a short period of time. Either way we will continue to keep you, the reader, up to date on any new developments.

Andrew Cutler is the interim editor of The Observer.