Next-to-last post: Best businesses in Flower Mound

It's been a crazy couple of weeks getting things ready for me to go. I'm leaving Thursday morning, driving to my new home in Richmond Thursday and Friday. The house-for-sale situation in Flower Mound is moving along quite nicely, thanks to the Buehler team. My last day at FOX was today. It's tough to leave, but too great of an opportunity to pass up.

Several days ago, I promised I'd leave you with some "best of" Flower Mound lists. And I've posted a couple of them. I've got two left. Tonight I bring you the very subjective list of Best Businesses in Flower Mound.

In no particular order ...

Lifetime Fitness -- I know there are several good places to work out in Flower Mound, including our local YMCA. But for my money (a lot of my money, in fact), the best deal in town is Lifetime Fitness. Open 24 hours, hundreds of machines, two great pools and a nice facility to boot.

Belk's -- I wrote about them back when they opened. A nice store with friendly associates, and you get a good deal for the money.

Bowen Eye Care -- My eye doctors of choice for the past several years. Drs. John and Lisa Bowen run a good practice, and they've got a spiffy new facility on Northshore Blvd, a half-block east of FM2499.

Main Street Veterinary Clinic -- We've used several Flower Mound vets in our years here, and we've had good service at all of them. But we like these guys the best.

Firestone at FM2499/FM3040 -- On the balance, they've done a good job fixing our cars. When we've had complaints, they've addressed them very quickly. Very good on communication while your car is in their shop.

Best Buy -- It's hard to get too worked up over service expectations at a big-box store. But each time I've gone into the new FM Best Buy (FM2499/FM407), I've been greeted nicely, and I've always had my technical questions answered knowledgeably.

Tom Thumb at FM2499/FM3040 -- I debated with myself whether to include these guys. I've kinda had a love-hate relationship with my local Tom Thumb store, even though I've been one of its most loyal and lucrative customers over the past decade. Sometimes the service is good. Sometimes they're not paying attention. I have high (perhaps unrealistic) expectations for service at this store, which I frequent more than any others in town. Last night I made my last visit to Tom Thumb, and it came down to this -- while I was eyeballing magazines, a manager walked up to me and asked me if he could help find anything. OK, you win -- Tom Thumb is in the list.

NEXT UP: The best news story in my Flower Mound tenure.