BizLine is a weekly feature highlighting local businesses serving Washington and Beaufort County. This week’s BizLine features Fins and Friends, a new business and Beaufort County’s only pet store.

Name of business: Fins and Friends

Name of owner(s): Katie Godwin

Address of business: 1104 W. Fifth St., Washington

Telephone number: 252-975-6635

Hours of operation: 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Date business opened: April 30

Q: What type of business do you operate — what do you sell, or what service do you provide?

A: A full-line pet store offering freshwater and saltwater fish, birds, reptiles, cats, dogs, rabbits and more.

Q: What experience do you have in this field?

A: Godwin’s husband, Lee, managed a pet store in northern Virginia for about 10 years, and Katie Godwin has managed pet stores in the area.

Q: What sets your business apart from other similar businesses?

A: “We are the only pet store in Beaufort County,” Katie Godwin said. The couple plans to begin providing custom pet enclosures soon, the husband said. “That’s something I don’t think anybody in eastern North Carolina does at all,” he said.

Q: What types of customers do you hope to reach in Beaufort County?

A: “All of them,” she said. “We are looking to reach everyone from the age of 10 up to the age of 80.”

Q: Why did you choose to open where you did?

A: “We looked for a location that had a lot of public access, as Fifth Street does, and that we could afford,” she said.

The Godwins also run Godwin Signs & Awnings, which is located in the same building.

Q: What are your plans for your company’s future?

A: “We would love to branch out, have other stores,” Katie Godwin said.

“We also would like to sell pedigree dogs,” her husband added.

Compiled by Jonathan Clayborne