Open for Business
Willie Paredes, one of the owners of Brooklyn Tattoo on Smith Street. Photo by Kevin Duggan
BK tattoo parlors face uncertain future
as they reopen with limited capacity
COURIER LIFE, JULY 10-16, 2020 19
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Tattoo parlors across
Brooklyn began inking up
customers once more as the
city entered the third phase of
reopening on July 6 — fi nally
giving a much-needed lifeline
to struggling businesses ravaged
from months of closures
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was one of the worst
things, to have to close your
shop and pay rent,” said Leonardo
Torres, the owner of Torres
Tattoos in Greenwood
Heights. “But thank God we’re
able to open again and it looks
like we’re going to be able to
get back on track.”
The city and state permitted
tattoo parlors and nail salons,
which had been closed
since March, to reopen across
the Five Boroughs, provided
they adhere to several city
and state guidelines — including
limiting their shops to 50
percent capacity, requiring all
patrons wear masks, and regularly
disinfecting work stations.
Those businesses now join
other so-called personal care
services, like hair salons and
barber shops, that were reopened
during Phase 2 on
June 22.
Tattoo artists are well-accustomed
to wearing protective
gear, which they’d regularly
don since before the
bug to avoid infections from
other diseases like hepatitis
and HIV while working with
needles — but now they must
ask their customers to follow
similar safety measures too,
according to one Carroll Gardens
ink smith.
“A lot of the stuff we had in
place just for ourselves, ironically,
now we have them for our
clients,” said Willie Paredes,
one of the owners of Brooklyn
Tattoo on Smith Street. “Hand
sanitizing and wearing masks
has been something for us for
a while.”
Paredes and his business
partner Adam Suerte have yet
to actually start tattooing customers
again, as they continue
the process of rearranging the
interior layout of their business
to make sure everyone
has adequate space to socially
distance.
“The biggest thing is that
we make sure we don’t open
before we’re ready,” he said.
“We’ve had to keep people at
bay a bit.”
The tattoo artist said the
majority of customers were
left hanging in March, with
appointments and tattoos that
were halfway done, but he said
he’s not taking any chances as
he starts resuming service by
appointment only, which the
state recommends.
“We assume everyone
walking through the door has
COVID-19,” he said.
Paredes posted a sign at
his front door informing customers
that they’ll only be allowed
to enter at their time of
appointments, and that they
won’t be allowed to bring any
friends inside during the ink
sessions.
“Normally we would allow
one guest with the client —
that’s pretty much gone,” he
said.
Torres has implemented
similar policies and also has
a batch of pre-booked sessions
that he had to postpone due to
the coronavirus, but lamented
that business will be slower to
start due to the new restrictions.
“Probably we’ll lose a little
bit more money, because
we’re working with appointments
only,” he said.
The past and future loss
of revenue hits hard for the
manager of one Prospect Lefferts
Gardens tattoo shop, who
worried that they won’t make
enough money to pay back rent
they still owe from the months
of closure — and added that
many customers are suffering
fi nancial distress due to
COVID-19, and won’t be able to
afford tattoos for the time being.
“Customers said they have
to wait because they don’t have
a job,” said Alex Juarez, who
runs The Catrina Ink on Flatbush
Avenue. “We’re not going
to be able to pay the rent that
we owe. I tried to talk with the
landlord but they don’t help.”