New auto repair, sign fabrication business to open in Flandreau

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A business specializing in automotive repair and sign fabrication will soon be open in Flandreau at the 100 N. Water Street location.

Dustin Lau, the owner of Dusty’s Custom Welding and Fabrication, said he’ll be doing a little bit of welding and a little bit of fabrication, but mostly motorcycle and automotive services.

Lau’s current shop is in Hartford, but he plans to move everything to Flandreau and live in town when the new location is ready to go.

Once in Flandreau, Lau will work to give back to the community in a number of ways.

He has plans in hoping to work with the youth in town and give them the same experience and chance he was given as a teenager.

Lau said when he was in high school he didn’t make the best decisions. But he had a teacher help get him started down the right path, giving him welding experience.

He joined the Army right out of high school, helped out on the family farm when he came back and got more into welding, starting his own business.

Through collaboration with the Flandreau Development Corporation, Lau is hoping to find a few grants in order to work with both the Flandreau Indian School and Flandreau Public Schools to bring in a few interns every year and give them a trade skill, whether it be welding, working the plasma cutter or motorcycle and auto repair.

“If [my teacher] wouldn’t have said he could help me out, I wouldn’t be in the same place,” Lau said. “That’s my ultimate goal is just to give back what I was given a chance at.”

In the building where the shop will be, every 15 feet or so, there used to be windows that are now bricked out.

Lau said in Redfield where he grew up, each business would give a side of their wall to the senior class.

He said he would like to dedicate each window to a senior class, have them come out to the shop and create a portrait of what impacted them that year or what their inspiration is.

“Something where, 30 years when they come back for a class reunion, this is something that’s kind of a time capsule for them,” Lau said.

The shop will also host a number of community events in 2018, including craft shows, trade shows and events for veterans, as the business is 100 percent owned and operated by veterans.

The location of the business is in the area considered a gateway to the park, an area with a lot of improvements made in the community.

With some concerns an automotive repair shop will become a junkyard, that will not be the case with this business. Lau’s intention is to provide a service and keep the area presentable.

“For me, if I were to trash out the place, it really takes away from the opportunity to use those windows as a time capsule and to also sell my stuff,” Lau said. “It’s hard to sell an artistic thing when someone walks into a junk yard.”

He said he has trimmed down the pine trees to clean up the area and plans to redo the entryway.

Lau said a lot of people already have stopped into the shop since he’s been there and told him they drive by every day, but have never been on the inside.

“I want that building to be something presentable, if someone would like, to come inside,” Lau said. “I want it to be a staple or something when somebody says we went to Flandreau, that building is something they remember.”

In a joint public hearing with Planning and Zoning on September 18, the city council heard all positive feedback on the plans for the business.

While the property was previously zoned agricultural, after hearing Lau’s plans, the board recommended rezoning the property to highway commercial, which the council approved.

Lau is working currently on improvements to the inside of the building, including adding three car lifts and four motorcycle lifts.

He hopes to have everything in the shop done and ready to open by October 30.