BACK IN BUSINESS

War Paint Studios owner excited to do art again

Sarah Beans thought it would be a little weird being back at War Paint Studios in Willowick.

“But we walked back in and felt back at home, like riding a bike,” said Beans, who owns the tattoo shop.

War Paint Studios opened back up May 15 after being closed for nearly two months due to Ohio’s novel coronavirus directives.

“I’m very excited to do art again,” she said. “The phone has been ringing off the hook, so that’s a good thing.”

Being shut down for an extended period of time for the business that had to celebrate its second anniversary (May 1) with closed doors.

“I was basically selling things online on eBay and doing that kind of thing to keep some money coming and that’s what kind of got us through, reselling stuff,” she said.

Beans said that supportive customers and an understanding landlord helped during the closure.

“I was getting ready to sell my car to pay rent and (my landlord) was awesome and basically said that we can delay it,” Beans said. “So he’s going to add the rent on to the end of our lease and/ or we can pay a little bit extra on our rent until it’s caught up.”

Some customers bought gift cards and prepaid for tattoos.

“Without even asking these people are texting me asking, ‘hey how are you? I know you’re not able to tattoo. How can I help?’ “

Those customers helped keep her spirits up and food on her table, she said.

“I have the best clientsslash-friends ever.”

Beans said she was interested to see if people would

be interested in getting tattoos again.

“I wasn’t sure if people would be scared,” she said. “Turns out they weren’t scared.”

For now, work is being done by appointment only. Beans said she’s already booked up through the end of the month and into June. They’ve created a new email account (warpaintstudio@protonmail.com) to help manage and organize requests.

It’s one of several precautionary measures the shop has put in place as it reopens during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re a really clean industry anyway,” Beans said. “That’s what was so frustrating about (the state) not letting us open back up at first,” she said. “We were basically doing everything they were asking other companies to do

anyway.”

Other new precautions the shop is taking include requiring all employees and customers to wear masks. Beans said there are masks for sale in the store if people don’t have them. There is hand sanitizer available and it is encouraged to be used upon entering. There’s no piercing, and they aren’t tattooing minors until further notice. Customers aren’t allowed to bring friends in with them.

Despite the challenges that have come along with the pandemic, Beans is determined to keep her business a success.

“In the end, it’s not going to break us because I won’t let it,” she said. “I’m not going to use it as an excuse to fail because I refuse to fail. I didn’t work for two years to get to this point to get it taken away from me in two months.”

ANDREW CASS — THE NEWS-HERALD War Paint Studios owner Sarah Beans stands in front of artwork at her Willowick tattoo shop after nearly two months away. Tattoo shops were permitted to reopen in Ohio May 15.