Photos by MCKENZIE LANGE/The Daily Sentinel

Michael Smith, a delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Road, Unit B, operates a forklift to assemble an order at the warehouse in Grand Junction. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

Michael Smith, delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Rd. Unit B, prepares an order at the warehouse in Clifton on Tuesday. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

Giant bags of packaging peanutes are stacked and stored at Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Road.

Michael Smith, delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Rd. Unit B, prepares an order at the warehouse in Clifton on Tuesday. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

Photos by MCKENZIE LANGE/The Daily Sentinel

Michael Smith, a delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Road, Unit B, operates a forklift to assemble an order at the warehouse in Grand Junction. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

Michael Smith, delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Rd. Unit B, prepares an order at the warehouse in Clifton on Tuesday. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

Giant bags of packaging peanutes are stacked and stored at Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Road.

Michael Smith, delivery driver for Grand Mesa Packaging, 3199 D Rd. Unit B, prepares an order at the warehouse in Clifton on Tuesday. The business recently relocated from Cedaredge.

After nearly two decades in Garfield and Delta counties, Grand Mesa Packaging relocated to Grand Junction this January, and so far, the move is paying off.

Donna Peterson opened a corrugated plastic manufacturing company in Rifle in 2003. With a lack of room there, she partnered with Salt Lake City-based Wasatch Container, a paper plant, to move into a former apple processing facility in Cedaredge as Grand Mesa Packaging.

After moving to Cedaredge, Grand Mesa Packaging began selling corrugated items and packaging supplies. Eventually, the store completely phased out corrugated plastic products and focused on paper and packaging.

However, the Cedaredge location was not without its problems.

“In Cedaredge, it was three short warehouses that they used to store apples in that it had no heating or cooling or anything. In the summer, we were sweltering. In the winter, we were freezing,” Peterson said. “We had our products all spread out between three warehouses.”

Additionally, those warehouses didn’t have docks, leading to unloading and loading materials by hand and “wrestling trucks” to get products loaded or unloaded. The warehouses weren’t exactly the most truck-accessible facilities on the Western Slope, either.

In January, however, Peterson and company moved into the former Halliburton complex at 3199 D Road. in Grand Junction. Peterson said the move has alleviated most of the problems that plagued the business in Cedaredge.

“The majority of our customers are up here, plus we wanted to expand our market,” Peterson said. “In Cedaredge, we really didn’t have a retail facility, and it wasn’t easily accessible to the public. We felt that moving it here would help us in receiving our incoming trucks because they didn’t want to go all the way to Cedaredge, and it has. We also felt it would help us with our deliveries. We’re kind of in a more central location.”

Grand Mesa Packaging’s new digs include a retail space, more room in the warehouse and a dock that’s removed the hassle from sending and receiving freight.

“After moving up here, we’re under one roof, it’s a much nicer location, the offices are user-friendly and retail-friendly, and the warehouse is way more easy to get around, navigate, pull orders to and store items,” Peterson said. “It’s been going fabulously.”

The building is a little over 15,000 square feet, far more spacious than the three warehouses in which the company previously operated.

Since the move, business has been booming.

“We’re a local supplier of both custom and stock packaging supplies,” Peterson said. “We can design any type of packaging to fit your product needs, plus have many stock items available here for immediate pickup. We’re here to work with you, to make sure you have the best packaging to fit your needs.”

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Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. NNE winds shifting to ESE at 10 to 15 mph.

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Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.

Cloudy skies. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening, then mainly cloudy overnight. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

A few clouds from time to time. Low 69F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Partly cloudy. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.

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