Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Chesco tattoo shop changes business model to survive pandemic
EAST GOSHEN » While reopening after more than a three-month closure, Local Color Tattoos has changed the way it does business in a bid to confront the global pandemic.
The shop requires mask wearing for customers and employees at all times and has limited the number of people allowed in the shop at 1316 West Chester Pike, Suite 3, and next to Rose Hill Apartments.
Shannon Brown and Mike Brown own the busy shop and both wear masks.
“A lot of us wore masks before the pandemic if we had sniffles or a cough — now it’s all the time,” Shannon Brown said. “Everybody in the shop — no matter what — has to wear a mask.”
Local Color Tattoos is not offering any procedures that require taking off a mask, including oral and nasal piercings.
Only the person receiving a tattoo or piercing is allowed inside.
Although some customers are really not thrilled about the restrictions, the business is swamped, Shannon Brown said.
“We are weeding out those that don’t seem to have any concern for anyone else or us,” Shannon Brown said.
Even with notarized parental consent, those between ages 16 to 18 are not now permitted to be tattooed.
Those just over 18 might consider the rules strange.
“It seems like kids used to bring friends,” Mike Brown said. “Some are weirded out that they have to come in alone.” The Browns have limited staffing. Shannon Brown said that no lingerers are permitted.
“Whoever is tattooed or pierced can come in and the others can wait in the car,” she said.
As required by law, all employees are required to obtain an annual blood-borne pathogen certificate.
The couple is pleased to be back at work.
Mike Brown said he was getting bored, but he had time to put in a garden and install a pool. Shannon Brown is happy. “There is only so much to do at home,” she said. “You can’t clean all the time, but it was nice to have the break.”