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Tattoo parlors a mark of success
A full-sleeve tattoo
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Steve Chiotakis: Recent surveys have shown that more than a third of people 18 to 40 have some sort of tattoo. That means brisk business for ink shops in recent years. And despite the recession, people are still getting them. Andrea Mustain reports.
Andrea Mustain: In a small storefront in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, the tattoo studio Hand of Glory is a welcoming spot. In the back, owner Craig Rodriguez whistles while he works. Shop manager Karen Rockower says there's a reason why they're in a good mood:
Karen Rockower: We were just discussing earlier today that the business is doing just as well as it was last year at this time, which is not consistent with most small businesses in the neighborhood.
And in fact, owner Rodriguez says his latest figures show business is up more than 40 percent from the previous year.
Craig Rodriguez: I've never really taken any real downhill turns yet.
And with tattoos moving from the fringes of society to the mainstream, he plans to expand. Rodriguez is opening a second shop upstate in the Catskills Mountains.
But let's say you're at the mall. You just got a new outfit, and you want a tattoo to match. Now you don't have to wait. Yes, tattoos are at the mall. At least this one in Wayne, New Jersey.
Heath Wolfson: Our tattoos have grown 35 percent year over year, which is pretty spectacular.
That is Heath Wolfson, the CEO of Tattoo Nation. The company hopes to do for tattoos what Starbucks did for coffee. They're expanding into several more malls this year. Wolfson says in this tough economy, it's a question of bang for the buck.
Wolfson: Would I rather buy a pair of jeans that are gonna go out of style in six months, or would I rather get a tattoo that's going to last a lifetime?
But back at Hand of Glory in Brooklyn, Craig Rodriguez says people don't just get tattoos because they're cost-effective. He says they're fun.
Rodriguez: It's a little bit of an escape, and I think that's what human beings do.
Even during hard times. Client Zach Greenblatt says it's impossible to pin down the psychology behind tattoos, but he has his reasons.
Zach Greenblatt: It could be because you're showing yourself that you can get through things, like I am.
Greenblatt just got laid off a few weeks ago. But he says he won't let that stop him. He's adding red roses and a black crow to the intricate tattoo that already runs down his arm. He says tattoos can serve as a kind of memorial.
Greenblatt: Sometimes people will go through something horrible and you'd think they'd want to just completely forget it. But they mark it on themselves. And that's just a different way I guess of dealing with life.
Greenblatt says don't be surprised if ex-Wall Street bankers start getting dollar sign tattoos.
In New York, I'm Andrea Mustain for Marketplace.
I am the owner of Paradise Tattoo in Blue Hill, Maine. Opened for business in November '07 in a summertime coastal economy apparently at the start of the downturn. Don't tell my customers though. If you can get off the ground in tight conditions it'll be all the better for it come the good times. This niche market is really an art form that has a long and colorful history in the US and around the globe. Fads and styles come and go but tattooing remains recession resistant. Why? People want to express themselves, rich or poor. They want to be unique.. just like everyone else. Compared to the cost of real estate or art in a gallery, tattoos are a pretty good deal, and like they say, it lasts a lifetime. Consider it a long term investment in a sense of self empowerment.
I believe a good tattooer is a proficient artist who keeps a clean workstation, but also knows how to work with people, good one on one customer service. Happy customers keep coming back, especially tattoo collectors.
But art and people skills under one roof? This is a high set of expectations for the starbuckification model. So instead, let tattoos stay in the fringes a little bit. A tattoo is not like a new pair of jeans or the latest american idol winners album, It will still be with you long after the mocha latte has gone cold. The cookie cutter mall landscape needs a makeover, needs tattoos, local specialty shops and stuff you can't get at wally world. A new tattoo is just the thing. Great idea!
P.S. In response to Slim in OR,
your negative attitude just shows your unhappiness. get tattooed, feel good about yourself! Art and self expression are the ultimate tools for controlling and directing life, as an individual and on a cultural scale. Make art, shape reality. Or to borrow a phrase from the Stonington Opera House here on the coast, "Incite art, create community".
I'm glad there is at least one (small) industry doing well. I'm also glad that societal norms are finally relaxing enough to allow something as personal as this kind of body art to flourish.
While not uneducated, nor underemployed, nor a driver of a 4" lifted truck (I drive a Prius), I do think about getting a tattoo. Haven't done it yet (haven't found one that really speaks to me), but it's a kind of plan.
Do I think this will make me part of a particular tribe? No. In a way, I'm already part of several different tribes, most of whom don't care one whit about tattoos.
One tribe I'm not part of is the one that says it's OK to stereotype others based on my preconceptions of my own wealth and status. When one has walked a mile...
I am reminded of Laura Schlessinger's comment to a person who got a tattoo.
Caller: "It's a memento."
Laura: "Buy a postcard!"
In general, peoples have used tattoos to conform to a cultural or societal norm and/or to signify a station in life. Sheer decoration has been accomplished with paints or adornments.
Americans' fascination with body art is yet another hallmark of the under-educated and under-emloyed. Such persons have precious little in their lives they themselves can control. They can give a child an odd name, lift their trucks 4' off the ground, and/or get some tasteless tattoo. Yes, it's tribalism in a way, but not any tribe I'd want to join.
