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201st Issue of EnjoyShanghai Weekly
This week we celebrate our 201st issue of EnjoyShanghai Weekly, the magazine. Four years ago we published issue number one - a larger newsprint style publication with fewer pages that focused entirely on classifieds. We called it EnjoyClassifieds, "the only classifieds you'll ever need", and it succeeded astonishingly quickly in setting the standard for Job, Property, Buy & Sell, and of course Personal classified ads in Shanghai.
EnjoyClassifieds started on the premise that the website was the engine that would drive the print, and the print would serve as the marketing to drive the web. Thus, we launched the website in July of 2006 and published our first print issue just two months later. It was a bit of a struggle in those early issues to fill our print page requirements, particularly in the Personals section. Apologies if you were one of those who replied to "Looking for someone to snuggle with" or "Salsa anyone?" and didn't get a response. Bradley and I didn't expect quite so many replies. Fortunately, it worked, and within just a few weeks we were the leading classifieds service in Shanghai (and Bradley got to take a break from Salsa!).
In November we expanded our mission to include Dining and Nightlife listings with a little help from friends and a former colleague (from that's better days) that helped set us on the editorially driven path towards the events and city entertainment magazine that we are becoming today. We relied very much on interns in the beginning - we still do in fact, but we have since developed a talented and professional Editorial department around them. Thanks to Tom, Jaki, Monica, and Steph for creating that department. And to all the contributors, the list is so long, but thank you all.
In July, 2009, we said goodbye to the name EnjoyClassifieds, and the magazine has been known ever since as EnjoyShanghai weekly. The transition and rebranding of our website, magazine and original flagship Enjoy VIP program under one brand, EnjoyShanghai, was part of our renewed and revitalized attention to our core mission - helping people enjoy Shanghai. We started Enjoy, and later the magazine, as a service to the community, not just to individuals, but to small business owners. We haven't forgotten who we are, and why we started this business in the first place - to provide a space for fostering community and introducing individuals exploring the city to the small businesses who contribute to making this a better city. We are profoundly grateful to all the support we've received from the business community. While we have made mistakes along the way, we have genuinely tried to put service first, and will continue to do so in the years ahead.
The future looks pretty exciting for Enjoy. We have an ambitious agenda of change coming to the Enjoy program in 2011, and the magazine (and this website) will be taking the next evolutionary steps towards providing the most up-to-date, convenient, and comprehensive entertainment and community event coverage in Shanghai. Watch this space for upcoming announcements.
Finally, thank you to everyone, current and past, who has worked for Enjoy. The one thing that has defined this company, and helped it survive the long odds as small business, is the incredible passion and dedication of the people who have worked here. We hoped to build a company that you would enjoy working for, but the truth is you all made this the fun place to work that it has been. Thank you. And to those of you who have moved on, we miss you.