El Toro Bravo, the new and larger restaurant built by the owners of El Toro restaurants, is open for business at 2561 W. Springfield Ave., C, near Kaufman Lake.

It is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, and eventually the bar will be open later, said Victor Fuentes, an owner of the family owned group of Mexican restaurants.

The new place is the successor to El Torero, a restaurant that was a few blocks east of the new location.

The owners wanted to move because their business had outgrown the old place. There is seating at the new restaurant for 374 in the dining room, bar area, banquet room and outdoor patio, Fuentes said.

The menu remains about the same, with a few new additions, he said.

O Christmas trees!

Yes, the pumpkins are just beginning to appear on porches and the flowers are still blooming, but Carol Burton is thinking ahead on the holiday calendar.

She has started A Carol's Christmas, a temporary venture that will be available to offices and other workplaces only through the holidays.

What she offers is a Christmas tree, fully set up, decorated and taken down by her. She has 14 different trees, from 7 1/2 to 9 feet tall. Businesses can call now for a brochure and reserve a tree, with setups beginning in November, she said.

For more information, call 841-0010.

Another look ahead to the holiday season:

Moore Trees at 3510 W. Bloomington Road, C, has added a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm at the southeast edge of Urbana. The former Ridge Road Tree Farm, it is 3 miles south of Windsor Road and about a half-mile west of Illinois 130, said nursery manager Andy Lawhead.

It will open the day after Thanksgiving, and will also sell other holiday greenery, he said.

Moore Trees, which started in 2004, is a nursery specializing in trees and shrubs. It also has a third location in Pesotum.

Grooming in Urbana

Jonie Gillis, who formerly operated a pet-grooming business in Pesotum, is back in business in Urbana under the name Tangled Knot Grooming.

She offers grooming for small and large dogs and cats at 804 1/2 E. Main St., U, by appointment only.

For more information, call 328-0822 or see the Web site at http://tangledknot.mypets.ws.

Gillis has been a groomer for 15 years and also does competition grooming, she said.

New hours

Lone Pine Books, a used-book store at 200 W. Washington, Monticello, has switched to winter hours.

It is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and from 5 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of the month when there are special events those evenings downtown.

At Market Place Mall

The Trade Secret shop and salon is closed for remodeling.

It will reopen in about two months, according to Market Place Mall General Manager Dennis Robertson.

Two new tenants are on the way: NY Fashion, a men's and women's apparel shop, and a mall version of Luther Falls Stone Co./Luther Falls Custom Kitchens.

Luther Falls, an owner of the company in Champaign-Urbana, said the mall shop will be in the J.C. Penney wing and sell marble, granite and other stone items, including dining tables, vanities, coffee tables, globes and other home decor items.

Falls expects the store to open during the first week of October.

Are you opening a new business or changing something at your existing business? Debra Pressey can be reached by telephone at 351-5229 or 800-252-3346; by e-mail at dpressey@news-gazette.com; or by regular mail at The News-Gazette, c/o It's Your Business column, P.O. Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677.