By John Ney

Online Babysitting Resource

Need someone to look after the kids on Friday night? Babysittersplus.com is a secure, online resource that connects parents to babysitters, tutors, nannies, house-sitters, pet-sitters, and elderly care. The Website officially launches on January 1.  Babysittersplus.com is free for caregivers; the "Plus Membership" for parents starts at $2.49 for three days. A free 30-day membership is available until January 15. 

Owners Kara Birkey, a stay-at-home-mom, and Leo Lovely, who spent 11 years as an IT professional, live in the Brandon area.

Babysittersplus.com is accessible 24/7. For more information, contact Birkey or Lovely at 941-400-9299.

Cellular Phone Service Provider

New to the Main Street Shoppes plaza on S.R. 60, Fusion Wireless offers T-Mobile and Helio service, accessories and service/repairs for all cell phones. 

The company opened its doors December 3. Fusion Wireless offers customer service in a spacious, family-friendly facility with free gourmet coffee, a kid's play area, flat-screen T.V.'s, and a Wi-Fi hotspot. Owners Ted Bullard, Jeremy Calkins and Don Chadwell live in the Brandon area and have been in the cellular business for many years. The company is located at 951 E. Brandon Blvd. and is open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday, 12 Noon-5 p.m. For more information, contact Bullard at 704-746-4837.

New Brandon Chamber Member

As You Wish Carpeting Cleaning, Inc. is a new member of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce. The company offers cleaning and recoating services for carpet, tile and grout, natural stone, Mexican tile and wood floors with a money-back guarantee. Technicians are trained and Inspection, Clearning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) certified.

Pricing varies by job and estimates are provided up front. Owner Nick Baker has lived in Brandon for two years and is an IICRC certified technician. The company is located at 19046 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., #172, in Tampa. Office hours are Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Contact Baker at 994-9011.

New Asian Fusion Restaurant

Saigon Corner Asian Bistro is a new dine-in or take-out restaurant featuring Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai cuisine. The company opened December 3 and offers authentic food, great service and affordable prices.

"The freshest, most reasonably priced, oriental food in town,” says customer Charley Decker. “I was amazed to see how pleasant and eye-appealing the interior is...and, of course, the friendly staff!"

Owners Yen Thai and Anh Phan live in the Tampa Bay area. The company is located at 518 Oakfield Dr. and hours are Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. For more information, contact Thai at 681-5005.

Brandon Chamber Honors Businesses

The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce awarded Bobbie Arnold (Bright House Networks) with its first "Customer Service Professional of the Year Award."

Finalists included Mary Golden (APAC Customer Services, Inc.) and Susan Pearson (Tampa Electric Company). The program honors individuals in the call center industry for demonstrating exceptional customer service. Finalists received a Customer Service Certificate for Outstanding Performance; the winner was honored with a trophy and a $250 check. Program sponsors included Brandon News & Tribune/The Tampa Tribune; Sencommunications; Estates at Tuscany Ridge; Aparicio-Levy Technical Center; and Williams, Schifino, Mangione & Steady, P.A.

For more information, contact Chamber representative Janet Noah at 689-1221.

Restaurants Ready for January Openings

Valrico residents will soon have a shorter drive to some of their favorite restaurants. Chili's and Panda Express will be opening soon to S.R. 60 and Mt. Carmel Rd. in front of Lowe's in Valrico.

Next to the new Valrico Starbucks, Chili's plans to unveil a new store on January 24 while Panda Express is aiming for January 14.

Chili's Managing Partner Marty Martinez says the restaurant is making its home in the Valrico area "because people asked for it and we wanted to make it happen."

Residents in need of a job can go to the Chili's hiring center located in Valrico Square, next to Estrella Tropical located at 1941 S.R. 60 E., for an application, interview and possible career at the new location.

Specifying what makes Chili's so unique, Martinez says it is due to "our focus on food and service and our menu is definitely diversified."

For more information, please go to www.chilis.com or www.pandaexpress.com. 

Family Owned Mexican Restaurant Opens on S.R. 60

Sabor A Mexico, a new Mexican restaurant, opened last month in Brandon. Sabor means flavor in Spanish, so the new family-owned restaurant's name, translated, means flavor of Mexico.

Located at 706 E. Brandon Blvd. where Jimmy Lynn's Music Café used to be and directly next door to Ben's Family Restaurant, the restaurant features the authentic Mexican dishes, including enchiladas, quesadillas, fajitas and tacos.

"We offer fast service for lunch and dinner; good food; authentic Mexican food other restaurants don't have. We have a full bar. We also have two separate dining rooms for big parties," says Manager Marco Gonzalez.

Alcohol is served, including margaritas in pitchers, three different sizes-small, medium and monster and Mexican beer like Corona or Dos Equis.

For hours and more information, call 654-4900.

ShipOnSite Comes To Plaza Bella

Offering more than shipping and packaging, the newly unveiled 1,200 sq. ft. ShipOnSite store, located at 1022 Bloomingdale Ave. in Valrico, uniquely combines a retail store with postal services, providing eBay services as well as instant purchase of eBay items, all within one location.

"A large part of my business is my work as an eBay trading assistant," states owner Donna Barrington which she acknowledges as being the main reason that sets her company apart from others within the area.

Supplying professional photos, descriptions and product research for the merchandise, Barrington carries out the service with financial information anonymity, wrapping and shipping of the item and writing you a check.

Having lived in Brandon for the past 20 years with children who attend Bloomingdale High School, she says, "We are really embedded in this community and I really wanted to be here. It is an awesome location." In addition to setting up your consigned items on eBay, the store also provides shipping, packaging, passport photo services, copies, business cards and much more. The non-franchised store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

For more information, call 661-6505 or go to www.shiponsitebrandon.com.

Hospital Offers Weight Loss Seminar

Due to the strong demand in the Brandon area for other measured responses to obesity, Mike Fencel, chief executive officer for Brandon Regional Hospital announced a non-surgical weight loss option, in addition to its new bariatric surgery program.The first session of the year will be held on Tuesday, January 8 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Education Center in Oakfield Medical Plaza, Suite 260, across from the  hospital. Rena Greenberg, Director of Wellness Seminars, Inc., is back by popular demand to lead this class.

The Wellness Seminar for weight loss is a highly effective seminar combining the power of hypnosis with behavior modification. Participants learn to lose weight without feelings of deprivation or denial and eliminate unproductive eating habits such as snacking, binging, overeating and emotional eating, in one convenient session. The first 45 minutes of each session is a free orientation. If the participant feels comfortable with the program, a one-time fee of $79.99 is paid. This fee includes a powerful hypnotic session, Rena's Hay House book, The Right Weigh: Six Steps to Permanent Weight Loss ($14.95 value), behavior modification booklet, home reinforcement hypnosis CD, and unlimited free repetitions of the hypnosis for one full year, if needed.

To register, call 1-888-3-BRANDON (1-888-327-2636). Wellness Seminars has offered smoking cessation and weight control programs in over 70 hospitals since 1990.

New “Health Coach” Business Open

At this time of year, a lot of us feel that we need a health coach. New Brandon Chamber member Find Yourself Wellness, whose goal is to optimize individual health, is on a mission to get America healthy.

Marshall Foxworthy is a Tampa native who now lives in Plant City. As an independent certified health advisor teamed up with Take Shape for Life®, Foxworthy coaches his clients through a simple proven lifestyle program and a “goof proof” nutritional program with a 26 year track record. The efficacy of the nutrition program has been proven in studies at Johns Hopkins and the NIH. For more information, contact Foxworthy at 389-2315.