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George Hoffer, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University,  passed on an interesting list put out by AutoStar, a New York-base automobile finance firm.  The list, based on 2008 new vehicle unit sales, ranks the top 125 auto dealership groups in country.

Of the top 125, five have a presence in the Richmond area, including Goochland County-based CarMax Inc., which ranked at No. 25. The chain, which specializes in the sale of used-cars, sold 15,485 new cars at its six new-car dealerships.

The others: fifth ranked Asbury Automotive Group, based in New York, and owns Richmond BMW as well as Crown MINI of Richmond and Crown Acura; 30th ranked Victory Automotive Group, based in Tennessee, with Nissan dealerships in western Henrico County and Mechanicsville; 44th ranked Sheehy Auto Stores, based in Northern Virginia, with Ford and Lincoln-Mercury franchises in Midlothian and Ashland; and 72nd-ranked Priority Auto Group, based in Chesapeake, with a Toyota store in Chester and a used-car supercenter in Colonial Heights. ¶

I received an interesting note about a program at the Children’s Museum of Richmond from Amy Favreau at Elevation.

The museum has flex time programs for employees who need to take care of their children.

Favreau said several people at the museum leave work in the afternoons to pick up their kids from school or be home when they get off the bus. Then   between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. they’re back at work - either linked up from home or at the office.

This is a pretty cool concept and I think it’ll make a good story.

Let me know if there are any other companies out there doing something similar or considering it.

Andrea Edmunds bought PoshTots.com out of bankruptcy for $735,000.

Edmunds founded the online retailer in 2000 and sold it to Baby-Universe in 2006. 

PoshTots.com sells luxury items for children.

BabyUniverse merged with EToys, forming The Parent Company, which filed for bankruptcy in December.

Edmunds bid on the Web business, which includes PoshLiving.com and PoshCravings.com, at an auction in February.

Gold’s Gym opens at Westchester Commons today. 

The 45,000-square-foot gym is the second one for the chain on Midlothian Turnpike. The other is at the the Shops at the Arboretum.

American Family Fitness has plans to build a 65,000-square-foot center about 2 miles away near Midlothian Turnpike and Woolridge Road. A sign in Midlothian Village says the AFF is supposed to open next year. It now has a center at the Stein Mart Festival Shopping Center.

You might wonder which one I’ll join, but right now I’m getting my exercise chasing a 15-month around the house and sweating on how I’m going to pay for her big brother’s college. 

There’s a new hotel in Henrico County.

The Country Inn & Suites by Carlson opened late last week at 8010 West Broad, west of Glenside Drive and I-64. The 71-room hotels has an indoor pool, fitness center and business center.

It also has a Read It and Return Library which lets you take a book from one Country Inn and Suites property and return it another. This is a lifesaver for book lovers stuck far from home with a dud of a novel on their hands. Trust ne, I’ve been there.

The hotel is operated by West End Hospitality LLC.