After 20+ years, the family that runs Yellowknife's Coffee Break News is looking for a new owner

Sarah Krymalowski · CBC News

· Posted: May 31, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 31

After much than 20 years, the household that runs a beloved Yellowknife newsletter is looking to walk the concern connected to a caller owner.

Lynn Elkin bought the Coffee Break News from its archetypal proprietor backmost successful 2002, reasoning her lad Brad Hall, who was inactive successful precocious schoolhouse astatine the time, mightiness bask moving the newsletter arsenic a part-time job.

She ended up being right.

Hall has been the dependable down the newsletter ever since, giving Yellowknifers accusation connected what's going connected successful the metropolis each week, on with movie times, abbreviated articles, quizzes and 2 afloat pages of jokes.

Hall said helium likes the state of getting to take each week what to probe and constitute about.

"I similar learning caller information," Hall said. "But I besides similar to bash specified things connected my ain terms. That whitethorn beryllium 1 of my favourite things astir it." 

In 2022, the household moved to Alberta to beryllium person to Hall's member and his kids. While their printer, Kopycat North, and others successful the assemblage person offered help, it's been hard to tally the Yellowknife newsletter from afar. 

They are present looking for idiosyncratic to instrumentality implicit the concern — oregon astatine the precise least, the transportation broadside of it.

How the newsletter gets made

Hall does each the probe and penning of the newsletter himself each week, fielding emails, looking online for accusation connected events happening successful Yellowknife, and gathering facts for quizzes and articles. He past gets each of the contented formatted successful the newsletter, on with advertisements.

Then Elkin oregon her hubby gives it a proof-read, and they nonstop it to the printer.

Hall besides oversees the transportation process to get caller copies to the 50-odd Yellowknife businesses that transportation the newsletter each week — though a pupil astatine the Yellowknife Aurora College field has taken implicit making the stops since Hall moved away.

Hall estimates that, each successful all, helium does astir 12 to 15 hours of enactment connected the newsletter each week.

Elkin says she is arrogant of however agelong they person kept the newsletter going strong, done changes similar the advent of societal media and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When societal media truly took disconnected a portion ago, we truly weren't definite that Coffee Break News was going to inactive beryllium around, but what we recovered is that societal media has its place, and it's not for everyone, and sometimes it's truly hard to find each of the information," she said.

"So we recovered that radical had travel backmost to speechmaking america and telling america we were a spot that they spell for definite things — peculiarly the nationalist work announcements. And different radical who emotion the jokes."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they pivoted to an physics flip-book mentation wrong 2 weeks of lockdowns beginning, which they proceed to connection alongside the classical people version.

"We're beauteous arrogant of that," Elkin said. 

"It would person been casual to say, 'Oh, hide it!' but we deliberation it provides existent worth and it's fun." 

Advice for the aboriginal owner

Since they moved to Alberta, it's been a much challenging concern to maintain.

Right now, Hall is volunteering his time, due to the fact that they decided they wanted each of the nett for the newsletter to enactment successful Yellowknife. After printing and transportation costs, Elkin said, that's conscionable capable wealth to connection section businesses and non-profits immoderate discounts connected advertising.

Hall, who has present been moving Coffee Break News for astir fractional his life, said it would beryllium a large alteration to walk it connected to idiosyncratic other — but helium would beryllium supportive of anyone who wanted to effort it.

"My proposal for them would beryllium to marque it their thing, benignant of similar I made it mine," helium said. "Giving it a idiosyncratic touch."

Elkin besides said she would promote anyone who takes connected the task to adhd their ain "flair".

"But retrieve who it's for. It's for the community," she said. "Make it truthful it fits wherever Yellowknife is and who Yellowknife is becoming arsenic a community."

Chris Woods, the manager of Capitol Theatre, said it's been large moving with Hall and Elkin implicit the years, adding that radical archer him each the clip that they find showtimes for the theatre successful Coffee Break News each week.

"They've done an astonishing occupation taking our amusement times, formatting them, adding synopsis, posters. It's fundamentally similar having an advertisement bureau moving for you." 

He says helium is besides conscionable a fan.

"I work it each week. I similar the small stories and I similar the jokes," helium said.

He feels it would beryllium a "great loss" if Coffee Breaks News ended. 

"I've worked successful a fig of cities that had a Coffee Break News-type publication, and a batch of them failed aft a portion conscionable due to the fact that the idiosyncratic who was moving it felt overwhelmed and they couldn't proceed it," helium said.

"The information that this 1 has been going connected for 20 years is conscionable simply amazing." 

Elkin said she and her household are hoping to find idiosyncratic who tin either assistance Hall tally the newsletter oregon instrumentality it over. She says anyone who is funny successful the occupation tin email Coffee Break News.