Welcome to The Denver Gazette’s Metro Moves. You’ll get the latest metro Denver openings, closings, hiring and promotion briefs here. To submit your company’s news, drop an email to [email protected].

Now Open

The Blue Island Oyster Bar and Seafood restaurant recently opened a second location in Lone Tree at 10008 Commons St., next to the popular Snooze restaurant west of I-25 and Lincoln Avenue.

Owner Sean Huggard is a professional oyster buyer and shucker and partner Chris Quartuccio is a diver and seafood grower with an oyster farm in Long Island, New York.

Metro Moves: Colorado Outdoor Recreation names new director

“Devoted to serving responsibly sourced, high-quality seafood, the team offers the state’s most robust selection of oysters, clams, lobster, crab, caviar and dayboat catches,” according to a news release.

“We couldn’t be more excited to open our second outpost in Lone Tree, and bring our fresh dayboat catches to the southern suburbs,” Huggard said in the release. “Having grown up on the east coast, immersed in the shoreline culture, it’s an honor to work with such knowledgeable and experienced partners, and bring so many coastal flavors and delicacies to Colorado.”

The original Cherry Creek location, 2625 E. Second Ave., Denver, has been open for seven years.

Rebranding

Greenwood Village-based Empower Retirement this month dropped “retirement” from its name, but not from its business line, according to a news release.

Empower employs about 2,900 people in Colorado and is well-known for its naming rights deal for Empower Field at Mile High, the Denver Broncos home stadium.

The holding company’s name remains Empower Retirement LLC, but company officials said the rebranding move reflects “Empower’s broadening stature and rapid growth,” according to the release.

Metro Moves: Billy's Inn to open 2nd Denver location

The company, which says it’s “the nation’s second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants,” has $1.1 trillion in assets under administration for more than 12.6 million retirement plan customers.

“Today we help people achieve short- and long-term financial goals on their path to a successful retirement,” President and CEO Edmund F. Murphy III said in the release. “Ultimately, our mission is about helping people achieve financial wellness, and the name Empower captures the essence of what we do.”

It also bought the empower.com domain name.

“Part of our brand promise has been about creating simplicity out of complexity and being easy to work with. Our new name captures that,” Chief Marketing Officer Steve Jenks said in the release.

Disclosure: Empower manages the retirement plans for Clarity Media Group, which owns The Denver Gazette.