Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 77

1 October 22000 www3tar-telegramcom Tar rant Business 5 Custom plastic injection molding Kroger employees live in Colleyville A Kroger official from Houston gathered the troops at the Colleyville location for a pep talk Perhaps to gauge local market knowledge the exec called for a show of hands by workers -who actually lived in Colleyville Nobody mean that none of you live afford the water bill at one of these one worker replied Cowboy cuisine draws stars to Reata in Beverly Hills So can Reata play with the big boys in Beverly Hills or what? The Texas restaurant opened on Rodeo Drive in February Coowner A1 Micallef figured that Hollywood had teen exposed to the original Reata restaurant in Alpine when making films around nearby Big Bend It worked Beverly Hills stars congregate for premier afterparties and business lunches at Reata an upscale joint imported from says USA Today in a recent story on the cowboy The newspaper credits Madonna sporting a 10-gallon on the cover of her latest CD We prefer to think the Dixie Chicks LeAnn Rimes and the rest of the cross-over country singers are responsible for Reata chef Jim Abbey gives his own answer to USA Today customers from Texas to Beverly Hills breathe eat and dress Western because he says and Sister of Olympics analyst waiting to see her on NBC Patty Potter vice president of creative at Stuart Bacon Advertising and Public Relations has a bone to pick with NBC over its Olympics coverage shown Cynthia Potter says of her older sister Olympic diving analyst in Sydney Cynthia voice is conspicuous for its seemingly instant and accurate assessments of the dives and upcoming scores According to Patty the knowledge is hard-earned Cynthia started diving at age 3 She qualified for the 1972 Olympics earned a bronze medal in the 1976 and qualified for the US-boycotted 1980 Soviet Olympics Denied that shot at Olympic gold she closed out her career with a gold medal at the world championships that year She retains this record for most world diving championships by a woman So it like growing up with an Olympian? one tough Patty says takes a huge commitment drive and Costco executives say business is good so far Judging from the crowds at the new Costco Wholesale warehouse club that opened Sept 21 in southwest Fort Worth the company is adding members at a brisk pace More than 45000 joined before opening day talcing offer to waive its $45 annual fee through Nov 30 Costco signed 40000 in Plano by the same day Costco officials saying how many more signed up but Costco President Jim Sinegal told the Star-Telegram Barbara Powell that like each store to Who makes them: Mid-Cities Precision Mold 4420 McLean Drive Haltom City How used: Precision Mold can build molds for any plastic part such as connectors toys and general computer parts How made: The company usually receives an order from a customer who provides the company with a mold design and specifications for a part If the customer have a design the company makes one using computer-assisted design and computer-assisted manufacturing to generate numeric specifications The numeric specifications are then entered into a 1 computer numerical controlsnachine or CNC which cuts the mold design from a block of steel The steel block or mold is then put into an electrical discharge machine to make sharp comers or ribs that the CNC cannot make Next the mold is polished and sealed and delivered to the customer What they cost: Cost depends on the size and cavities of the molds but they can run from $2000 to $100000 Where to buy them: The molds are made by special order at the Haltom City plant SomS of the customers include RadioShack Trinity Plastics Micro Mold and Rosti Dallas Renee Lee have about 75000 paid members Costco invests about $31 million including inventory in a new club The average Costco warehouse posts $100 million a year in sales doing OK so says Mario Omoss regional director of Costco Wholesale Texas division in Carrollton obviously a new market and we could always do better But happy with the Keenly aware of competitor Gub Costco officials say they plan more surprises and specials absolutely have to be a moving chief financial officer Richard Galanti says have to keep trying things and see what GOT A TIP? CONTACT: Jim Fuquay at 390-7723 jfuquay star-telegramcom liana Alashiia at 548-5477 ialeshire star-telegramcom Bill Bowen at 685-3809 bbowen star-telegramcom Michael Evans Michael Evans 33 has been co-owner of Reata Restaurants since the first restaurant opened in 1994 The company has restaurants in downtown Fort Worth and Alpine and in Beverly Hills Calif It has about 300 employees companywide Your downtown Fort Worth restaurant faced an uncertain future after the tornado damaged it and its building was put up for sale How did you help employees during that period? I met with employees right after the tornado and let them know that they would have continued employment with us The restaurant was closed for 42 days and we offered to pay an hourly wage while they volunteered for the Red Cross or other charities or worked elsewhere in the company When the restaurant was ready we brought everybody back They all earn as much as they usually do because many get tips But we made up the difference as much as we could and we kept all employee benefits in place We also had to get back up to speed as soon as possible for our customers We can rebuild walls and paint furniture but that nothing compared to getting new employees and customers We basically worked seven days a week 20 hours a day to reopen quickly When Loutex Fort Worth later announced it was selling the building we immediately filed suit Our employees know no rolling over on this side of town Mitchell Schnurman Siar-TelegramCAROLYN Mary Bauman The new Super Target store on Overton Ridge Boulevard in Fort Worth This week in Tarrant Business On Sunday Target will open its fifth and sixth SuperTarget stores in the Metroplex The two newest stores will open in Fort Worth at 5700 Overton Ridge Blvd and in north Dallas at 16731 Coit Road The first area SuperTargets opened July 23 in Hurst Watauga Frisco and West Plano Two more SuperTargets will open in Tarrant County next year in Euless at Glade Road at Texas 121 and in Arlington on Arbrook Boulevard at South Cooper Street SuperTargets which range in size from 166000 to 192000 square feet combine two concepts under one roof: Target latest concept Target Greatland and a full-service grocery store known as Archer Farms Market Barbara Powell 9.