Denton's Young Professionals (DYP) donated a total of $6,250 to local charities and students in 2008. The announcement was made via a press release last December 31.

In June of 2008, DYP awarded Laney Sims, a graduate of Fred Moore High School last December with $4,000. Fred Moore High School is DYP's Adopt-A-School.

The organization also provided funds $500 four organizations - the Chrysalis Foundation, Fred Moore Day Care, The Children's Advocacy Center and the Freedom House, according to the release.

Additionally, selected essay student winner s received a total of $250 in awards during the organization's monthly membership luncheon, held last December 9.

More information about DYP is available online at: http://www.dentonsyoungprofessionals.org/

Originally expected to open on January 2, the flower shop reopened at 2926 E. University, Suite 103 on the Southwest corner of 380E and Loop 288 a week early.

"It's been going well, we have lots of customers come in," Christine Dear, owner of Denton Florist said about her first day of new business, "It is such a good traffic area and easy access."

Known originally as Selby's Flower Shop, Denton Florist opened its doors in the downtown Square in the 1930s. Since then, it remained in business at the same 101 N. Elm St. location until its closing last week.

Denton Florist will host their ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration on Thursday, January 15 at 4 p.m. with catering provided by Fremaux Metropolitan Catering.

Inside the new center complete with reading materials and games.

A glimpse at the play area

Ana Hernando said one of the goals of her new pediatric center is not to "fix" a child with autism but to help them recognize the letters of their name.

"It's pretty incredible when they can do that," she said.

Located at 2435 W. Oak St., Suite 102 near Presbyterian Hospital, Hope Pediatric Therapy & Learning, PLLC offers the only sensory learning program in Denton in addition to many services including occupational and physical therapy as needed to children from ages 0 - 21.

"With the sensory learning program we can see results in 30 days, making them [her clients] reach their goals in twice the time," Hernando said about the results her clients receive with the sensory learning program.

Hernando's center includes a playing area, a library with board games and toys as well as a kitchen where children can learn about daily activities. Her current staff of two includes Staci Daniel, the speech language pathologist, and relationships manager, Scott Solomon.

An occupational therapist for 11 years, Hernando, 37, opened Hope Pediatric Therapy & Learning, PLLC in June. She completed her Bachelor's of Science in Kinesiology from the University of North Texas in 1994, a Master's of Occupational Therapy from Texas Woman's University in 1997 and a Master's in Business Administration from Our Lady of the Lake in 2000. She is married and has two children, Evelyn, 9 and Noah, 12.

You may reach the center at 940-230-2200 or by visiting their website at
www.hopepediatrictherapy.com.

Denton is the first office in the Southwest area to achieve Model Office status for the Southwest Area's Critical Review Compliance.

In the seven categories tested under the review, Denton achieved perfect scores of 100 percent in collections, City F2, Rural, FA2, and Human Resources. Additionally the post office achieved scores of 98.2 percent in finance, 97.1 percent in customer service and 92.3 percent in marketing.

"The critical review processes work when all functions within a unit work together. No one part can be successful without everyone pulling and working together," Denton Postmaster Les Phipps said in a June press release (like I said, they don't share their good news).

The Denton office employs 180 personnel, which includes 46 city and 42 rural routes, eight pieces of automation, a Bulk Mail Entry Unit and four Post Office Finance units. Denton provides 57,109 deliveries to customers in 10 zip codes.

According to their latest release, John and Minnie Richards won a cruise for their participation in the DATCU Insurance contest.

The contest where participants simply filled out an auto request form ran from September 1 until November 30 of this year.

Congratulations to the Richards!

Collin County edged over Denton County's figures for the upcoming January auctions by having 479 residences posted for foreclosure, which is up 18 percent from the 405 posted a year ago. In Denton County, 455 residential foreclosures were posted, about 16 percent more than the 392 homes listed for the January 2008 auction. Last month, residential foreclosures were down slightly to 435, which was about 3 percentage points below the numbers filed for December 2007 auction.

Denton County had seen a decline in same-month-to-same-month postings in each of the last two months for both the November and December auctions, according to George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service.

However, figures for the January auction are up by 5 percent, records show, indicating the bottom may not have been reached in the housing market.

-- Dawn Cobb

"Since the Committee's last meeting, labor market conditions have deteriorated, and the available data indicate that consumer spending, business investment, and industrial production have declined. Financial markets remain quite strained and credit conditions tight. Overall, the outlook for economic activity has weakened further," the Federal Reserve said in today's press release.

The new store located at 4320 FM 2181 helps credit-constrained consumers acquire basic home furnishing, appliances and electronics.

"It was an Eckerd, and then it became a CVS, but they never opened," Barry Steele, Hickory Creek EDC Consultant said about the Aaron's store location.

This is the first Aaron's to open in the Lake Cities area and the first in the town of Hickory Creek. There are two Aaron's stores in Denton and Lewisville.

Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur R. Charles, the new store is part of Aaron Rents, Inc., that has more than 1,585 company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada.

For more information:

Aaron's Sales and Lease
4320 FM 2181
Hickory Creek, TX 75065
940-497-3883

Hours of operation: Mon-Thurs 10 a.m.- 7 p.m., Fri 10 a.m.- 8 p.m.,
Sat 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., closed Sunday

According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Holiday Returns Survey released yesterday, retailers are becoming more accommodating by adjusting their returns policies and shoppers are returning the favor by giving gift receipts with holiday gifts.

"Nearly 60 percent of shoppers said they include either the original receipt or a gift receipt at least some of the time, slightly higher than 57.5 percent who said the same last year," according to the press release by NFR.

In addition, the survey found that nearly nine out of ten Americans - 87.2 percent of them - felt retailers' return policies were fair.

In last month's NRF's annual Return Fraud Survey, more than half - 52 percent - of the respondents said they felt retailers' return policies were more lenient during the holiday season than during the rest of the year.

The Holiday Returns Survey also found gift recipients to be content with their gifts - 65.2 percent did not return any gifts last year.

The annual survey was conducted by BIG Research, a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights.

For some stress free return tips from the NRF to help you during the holiday season, click here.

According to Nancy Farrar, spokesperson for the company which owns a variety of market-leading businesses and provides products and services to the industrial, energy, transportation and construction sectors, the plant's closure is due to a downturn in orders in the sector of the business.

In the release, the company announced the layoff affects 75 hourly and administrative members of its workforce. All employees were given 60 days notice and notified of the decision last November 14.

Accessory Superstore owner Bryce McCallum finally opened his shop for business today.

After a fire engulfed his store located at 3939 South I-35 E in Denton last December 22, McCallum and a crew of three, continued to operate the truck accessory store from a temporary shop set behind the building while the damaged building underwent repairs.

"I was waiting on signage," McCallum said about the reason why he had not publicly stated he had re-opened his shop. To make the repairs complete, he still has to place the yellow and green jeep on top of the roof.

His first shop was declared a total loss after the blaze late last year with damages estimated at $500,000, according to records.

The inside of the new building is similar to the first, but it is now 1,000 square feet smaller to accommodate building restrictions.

"It is amazing that people don't even know we burned down last year," McCallum said about his recent customers who have visited his shop, "They think we renovated."

McCallum and his wife, a real estate broker, opened their Accessory Superstore in 1997 and outgrew two others before they acquired the building on the 2-acre lot on Interstate 35E near Pockrus Paige Road in May 2003.

More information about Accessory Superstore is available online at
http://www.accessorysuperstore.net/

"Almost all respondents voiced concern about the near-term outlook with expectations of improvement ranging from about four to twelve months away," according to the report.

Here are some of the findings:

• Prices - retailers offered discounts to help their business stay afloat while other businesses resisted increasing their prices and passing that cost to their consumers.


• Labor market - continued to have mass layoffs, cut hours and temp positions. Manufacturing more than any other industry was affected. Manufacturers still reported declines.
  


• Retail sales - Electronics appear to be leading the way, but respondents said they that their market would continue to be weak through the holiday season, "and many respondents said they are cutting back capital expenditures for 2009."


To view the complete report, click here.

]]> http://bizbuzzblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2008/12/the-economy-according-to-the-b.html http://bizbuzzblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2008/12/the-economy-according-to-the-b.html Facts and Figures Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:26:07 -0600
Roll Up Your Sleeves!

Carter BloodCare will host their next blooddrive at the DATCU main branch on Thursday, December 4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will take place at 225 West Mulberry Street.

Those interested in donating their time can schedule select their time slot on-line by visiting http://iwebb.carterbloodcare.org/pls/iwebb/adrv?pdz=75038&pdr=DRV0333137.

]]> http://bizbuzzblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2008/12/datcu-blood-drive-dec-4.html http://bizbuzzblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2008/12/datcu-blood-drive-dec-4.html Events Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:50:30 -0600