By Bruce Karnick

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Hastings is now home to a new retail store known as Pure Fish Works. Pure Fish Works started in the home of the Flynn family, led by Youth Pastor and former residential/business painter, Shawn Flynn. Flynn’s story is that of faith.

“This business is the Lord’s. Why? It is because every time that there needs to be a sale, he allows the people to come in here, either they need this for their life, or else they need to talk to somebody, right? Because they’re struggling with things. And that’s where we kind of come into play,” explains Flynn. Being a man of faith is clearly his calling and his passion, fish are right up there towards the top, something he never thought he would do 20 plus years ago. Flynn had his own painting business and things were going well.

“When we got married, my wife brought a fish into our apartment and I was like ‘this is the dumbest pet ever’ but whatever, fine, we’ll have a fish. Then all of a sudden, I’d come home stressed from my painting business and I would look at this fish, his name was Moby, and I’m like, wow, I feel a little bit better. My blood pressure would go down, and I found myself sitting in front of that little square tank every time I came home from work.”

Then it was time for friends. Not for Flynn, for Moby. The thing that Flynn did not realize, they had been caring for Moby incorrectly the entire time they had him. The tank was being improperly setup and cleaned, it was washed with soap, but Moby was a tough guy fish and didn’t seem to mind. The problem was, the friends they brough home did not have the hardiness of Moby. When they set their first 29-gallon tank up, they added the friends and next thing you know, everything was dead the following day except Moby.

That moment was the defining moment for Flynn. He began to research and study, that lead to him learning and learning a lot. A trait that he learned from his father who had one of the largest bird collections in the US. Flynn started going to all the big box stores for pets, looking at things, figuring out how they worked, what they did. He learned that a fish tank is a bit more of a complex ecosystem than some water and luck.

They got their tank setup properly but his frequent visits to one store led to a higher up of that store asking if he’d like to do this for a living.

“I’m like, there’s no way I would do this for a living because I had the paint business,” Flynn smiled.

He continued to see her at the store and when they spoke again, she told him he would need a master’s degree in marine biology, then he would have to study all the different areas and species of fish, including saltwater. Set up tanks, journal the process and write up a thesis. Oh, and he had six months to do it.

He talked to his wife Sarah who gave the go ahead, Sarah had a friend that not only had a bunch of fish tanks but was in need of having their ceiling painted. Are you starting to see how this path was laid out before Flynn?

Flynn ended up with the tanks, set them up and started his journaling. He studied fish from Indonesia, Africa, West Africa, Fiji, and ultimately South America. It was in the Amazon that he found his favorite fish, the Apistogramma, or Dwarf Cichlid.

Flynn completed his training and went for the interview. There were 360 people that applied for the job, he made it to the final two candidates and lost to an applicant that had her doctorate in marine biology.

That was when the couple bought their house in Hastings. They brought their tanks with them on the move because Flynn figured he had learned a ton about water and the fish, he might as well keep it going. The move was difficult, taking all night. That is when his wife said, ‘fish or kids?’ Surely the conversation was more in-depth than that summary, but with that easy decision, all of their fish tanks were gone quickly to raise a family.

Fast forward a bit, four kids later, Shawn started seminary school, as that is in progress, Sarah lost her job. “Lots of stuff happening in our household, hard times. I had sold my painting business, I’m starting to work for the State of Minnesota, what are we doing? So, I started to pray and ask the lord what is it you want me to do so I can make some extra income?”

That is when he was contacted by the person that mentored him with the Apistogramma’s. A supplier out of Oregon that needed help. He needed a location closer to the east coast that could ship fish in less time than he could from Oregon. Flynn set up four or five tanks to give it a try with the thought process of, ‘if they breed, we’ll keep going, if not, we’ll look for something else.’ “One day my wife called me, and she goes, you better get home. We have a lot of babies. I got home and the tanks were full of babies. I called the guy and said OKAY, let’s do it.” Explained Flynn and Pure Fish Works was born.

What started as a four tank business quickly progressed to 36 tanks. 36 tanks progressed to 100 then to 180 tanks, all in the basement of their home. His knowledge of the Apistogramma earned him invites all over the US for speaking appearances and that lead to importing and exporting fish.

“I’ve shipped to every state in the US except Alaska,” added Flynn.

That fateful prayer ultimately led the Flynn’s to the spot at 501 Vermillion Street in Hastings.

The shop is laid out well, a small selection of products at the front of the store keeping the tanks away from the temperature variations of the windows and door. The far wall features many kinds of fish that families are accustomed to seeing, the middle tanks hold some of the larger fish including some freshwater stingrays. There are tanks with aquatic plants right in the middle as well. The business specializes in tropical freshwater fish.

The left of the store features the reptiles, including the one and only Fred, a red colored bearded dragon that is part of Flynn’s breeding pair. The predominant reptile carried by Pure Fish Works is the corn snake. At the time of the interview, there were 10 variations of corn snake. There are also frogs, tortoises, chameleons, a few types of Geckos and of course, this reporters favorite, bearded dragons.

The total space in the building is roughly 4,400 square feet which is quite a lot of space. Roughly half of the first floor is retail space, the back and the entire basement hold additional tanks for breeding, quarantining and holding of stock. He also has several tanks available for leasing to area residents and businesses that have Koi ponds. Pure Fish Works will provide a safe, controlled space, indoors over the winter for outdoor Koi, including feeding.

Pure Fish Works is a family affair, all of the Flynn’s children help with the store. Their oldest teen son helped build walls, tank racks, and he did a lot of the IT work for the building including the point of sale and security. Of course, in between her duties as mom and homeschool teacher of four, Sarah has been the glue keeping things together while Shawn is at his other two jobs.

The stores hours will start Thursdays and Fridays from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Flynn’s are there at other times of the week providing care to the animals, doing maintenance work and fulfilling online orders which will remain a large part of their business. That means they are available to open by appointment by calling 651-318-7376. You can also find them online at www.purefishworks. com Pure Fish Works has already morphed a few times since those four breeder tanks took off in their basement not too long ago. It will be interesting to see where it morphs too in six months or even a year as this wonderful family business fine tunes their new retail spot. The initial product selection will seem a bit slim to some, but that is understandable for a brand-new retail store. The selection will most likely grow as they find their way down the path laid before them, especially with their faith leading the way.

Stop in, pick up a fish or three, say hi to Fred and have a conversation with Shawn and the family, you won’t be disappointed.

The view from the front of the store. Shawn Flynn helps customers with a plethora of tanks behind him. It is refreshing to see a fish store that does not over crowd the tanks. Photo by Bruce Karnick