The Richmond region’s insurance landscape has fractured in the nation’s financial earthquake, but many significant players remain sound. On the minus side:

No one imagined a year ago that Wachovia Corp., one of the largest employers in the Richmond area, or Washington Mutual, a $300 billion thrift, would vanish from the banking scene. It was inconceivable that lending among banks would halt, freezing credit lines and causing havoc in the global financial markets. Nor was anyone talking about the federal government providing liquidity to the banking system through multibillion-dollar investments.

The economy is contracting, but one part of it locally is expanding in a major way. In the coming months, two new movie theaters will open with 33 screens. And an existing screen at another theater is set to become much, much bigger. By the end of February, Movieland at Boulevard Square is scheduled to open, becoming the first new theater in Richmond in 15 years, since the short-lived art house Grace Street Cinemas.

The Richmond region will welcome its newest regional shopping center in less than two months with the scheduled opening of Westchester Commons, a retail component of the 640-acre Watkins Centre multiuse project off Midlothian Turnpike and state Route 288 in Chesterfield County. It will feature Target, Petco, Regal Cinemas and Hilton Garden Inn.

If small business is your game, you’ll find the playing field a popular one in Virginia. As the recession continues and companies continue to look for ways to cut costs, employees who have been axed or feel they may be in danger of being laid off are looking at self-employment as an option. Perhaps they start their own small business. Maybe they purchase an existing franchise or a business that’s on the market.

When the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts completes its renovation and addition in about a year, it will add 165,000 square feet of space, places to hang about 2,800 new pieces of art, a restaurant, a bar, a sculpture garden and much more. The new wing’s impact on the neighborhood nearby should not be as dramatic. But it might be noticeable.

Finding a place to get fit is no sweat in Richmond. From boutique personal training salons to sports-specific facilities to warehouse-sized mega-gyms, the metro region is home to a host of fitness businesses and nonprofit organizations catering to a wide range of exercise interests among all ages. Richmond’s fitness kick has hit its stride with the aging of health-conscious baby boomers, increased focused on sports team training, and greater awareness of the importance of promoting exercise among American children.

The troubled economy has pushed many people close to the edge. For those who lose their footing, area charities help soften a rocky landing with an array of free programs and services. But what happens if the lifeline becomes overextended? At a time when unemployment, foreclosures, food prices and bank collapses are on the rise, will donations to nonprofits dry up?

Richmonders can swirl, sniff and sip away economic uncertainty thanks to the bevy of wine bars across town. The area has enjoyed its share of restaurants with lengthy bottle lists, but as wine becomes more popular, so do spots catering to its admirers. Barrel Thief wine shop and café started pouring in Short Pump in 2007 and recently opened a location near Patterson and Libbie avenues. That plants it just blocks from Café Caturra’s latest location, on Grove Avenue near Libbie.

The Richmond area’s latest foray into regional cooperation is idling, but the sticking points haven’t been about whether local governments should be working together. Officials in the city and surrounding counties spent the past year talking about jointly establishing an authority that would use new taxes and fees to pay for road projects. For now, they’ve concluded there’s no appetite to talk—even theoretically—about new taxes.

Evidence of the region’s growing influence in the legal industry will soon rise 15 stories above downtown Richmond as work steadily proceeds on the future home of Williams Mullen, Virginia’s third-largest law firm. It will be one of the more conspicuous signs that Richmond is emerging as a regional powerhouse in leading law firms that rank among the largest in Virginia and the nation.

The latest advances in health care don’t necessarily involve technology or innovation. The real wave of the future may be accessibility. “I think what we’re doing here is the front line of medicine,“ said William O’Neal, a physician assistant at Family Health Clinic at Westwood inside Westwood Pharmacy on Patterson Avenue. The new clinic offers medical services, including immunizations, screenings and physicals.

Kim VanHuss, a certified public accountant and owner of VanHuss & Associates in Richmond, invested $400 to belong to the local Business Networking International All Stars chapter. During the past year, she obtained $80,000 of new business through the group. Others in the 33-member group that meets at 8 Thursday mornings at the University of Phoenix Building on West Broad Street find the highly structured, 90-minute networking sessions to be lucrative, too.

Plow & Hearth is planting trees. Dominion Virginia Power is advising people how to save energy. A new home-remodeling store is selling only environmentally friendly products. Businesses have been going green for years, but the trend is hotter than ever. “It’s absolutely accelerating,“ said Stephanie Ackermann, co-owner of EcoLogic, the remodeling store.

The Richmond area’s pantries widened last year as two new grocery chains entered the area, new stores opened and customers ate out less. Ukrop’s Super Markets remained the market leader, Kroger and Food Lion opened stores, and two long-anticipated grocers opened in western Henrico County. Ukrop’sended up with one fewer store than the 29 it started the year with.