MegaAquarium dream come true for new owner

Laura Super was building optic lasers at her job in Phoenix Oct. 26, “feeling blues-y,” as she put it, and shopping for fish on Craigslist.

She wasn’t expecting to buy Maricopa’s entire fish and small pet shop, but then destiny stepped in.

Super spotted the ad Oct. 26, the fifth anniversary of her older brother Brian’s death.

“I believe in signs,” Super said. “I just felt it.”

The siblings and their father were all animal lovers.

“If it could breathe, I dragged it home,” Super said.

Brian especially loved reptiles, she said.

A little more than two weeks later, Super was helping a customer Monday in the shop and moving into her new Maricopa home.

“I packed up my whole family,” Super said, which included her boyfriend, Randy Bell, her 25-year-old son Tyler, three dogs, two cats, a desert tortoise, a scarlet macaw and a hamster.

Her family supported the decision.

She said Bell “is really hoping it takes off to the point where he can quit his day job” and help her in the shop.

Super, who grew up in Phoenix, said a lot had changed since she would occasionally visit Maricopa 20 years ago to check on land her mother owned.

“The last time I was here there was nothing,” Super said. 

“That water tower, that was it,” she said, meaning the water tower next to the shop.

So far, she said, she’s impressed with how the city has grown and the people.

“Everybody is so welcoming,” Super said. “I guess it’s just that there’s this smaller town feel.” 

She is looking forward to the opportunities and challenges of being a business owner.

“It’s hard work…but I’m excited,” Super said. 

For her, this is an opportunity “to do what you love, to do what you have a passion for.”

She has a lot of plans for the shop, including bringing in more saltwater fish and reptiles.