From animal groomers to yoga instructors, Wellington has about 150 businesses in the area to serve its residents.

In response to the influx of young families, the town’s largest business category has 16 licensed day care or preschool facilities.

The town was expecting to license an eighth dining establishment, but the businessman, who owns a Chinese restaurant in Windsor and had leased the ground floor of the historic Wellington Hotel, has changed plans and will not be opening in town.

Building owner Rolando Santos said the space is available again, and he will be contacting others who had expressed interest in putting a restaurant there. Built around 1903, the building sits at the corner of Second Street and Cleveland Avenue.

Businesses that closed their doors on Cleveland Avenue last year include Bash Two Dry Cleaners, Flower Depot, Nanytutu’s and Home Sweet Home.

Wellington can expect to issue building permits for two commercial operations early this year. The town issued just one new commercial permit in all of 2009, to manufacturing company 3J Inc.

A poultry processing plant will break ground in January on one acre in an industrial area north of Advance Tank and east of Buffalo Creek Community Park, according to business partner and general contractor Derrel Baker of Kustom Structures. The 4,200-square-foot facility will become USDA-certified to process poultry from numerous local growers, Baker said. It will not have a retail outlet, but will instead market to restaurants and other stores.

“We want to sell locally but don’t want to step on anybody’s toes,” Baker said.

The steel building is now in parts in Nebraska. Baker and business partner Jim Pieper will begin assembly in Wellington in mid-March with expectations of opening the facility by the end of April, Baker said. In the meantime, work has to be done to extend the sewer line and improve a roadway to the business. The main access roads will be east-west Washington Street and north-south West First Street.

Baker said the new company will employ six to eight people when it opens and he hopes to have up to 10 employees within a couple of months. The partners will be reviewing job applications in mid-March, he added.

Miramont Family Medicine, which already has an office on First Street in Wellington, will build a new facility on Sixth Street next to PointsWest Community Bank this year.

Dr. John Bender said the medical group hopes to break ground in mid-March and open in August. Bender’s brother, who is the owner of Bender Industrial Group, will be the project manager.

The new building will have a drive-up dispensary and X-ray equipment. In the near future, the group plans to offer mammogram services and have an on-site physical therapist. There will also be office space for visiting specialists.

The smaller office on First Street currently has the equivalent of five full-time employees. Bender said that number should double to 10 within the first year of opening. Miramont is currently interviewing for a second family physician.

The Wellington area is home to a wide variety of businesses. There are three steel fabrication or production companies, six hair salons, two veterinary clinics, two banks, a credit union, one grocery store, one hardware store, one health club and four convenience stores, to name a few.

When all professions with town licenses are tallied, including out-of-town contractors, there are 289 businesses wanting to serve the community.