Meeting health standards is painless for some tattoo shops | Business

A great tattoo artist adheres to strict sanitation requirements when drawing, whether or not or not it’s a small flower in your calf or an intricate mural in your again.

That was true earlier than 2020 and is so at present, and that familiarity with cleanliness made it straightforward for native tattoo retailers to adapt to COVID-19 pointers.

“We’ve been doing quite a lot of these for awhile now,” mentioned Aaron LeGore, proprietor of Calamity Jane’s Tattoo and Piercing, 803 North Ave. “Quite a lot of the measures are frequent sense. Like, why hasn’t there been hand sanitizing stations in Walmart this complete time?”

When the pandemic first hit, native tattoo store house owners shut down for six weeks like different non-essential companies.

However in contrast to a lot of her friends, Marci Uranker and her husband had simply opened Empire Ink Palisade, 309 W. Eighth St., Unit 1, in January 2020.

Enterprise hasn’t modified a lot for Empire Ink since there have been no walk-in appointments earlier than the pandemic. The store can also be five-star licensed by means of the Mesa County Variance Safety Program, a collaboration between the Grand Junction Space Chamber of Commerce and Mesa County Public Well being. The five-star certification is supposed to encourage and spotlight companies that go above and past when defending folks from COVID-19.

Because of that, the budding enterprise has operated extra comfortably in the course of the vacation season, which is often gradual for the trade.

“You’re mainly engaged on an open wound, so you need to be sanitary,” Uranker mentioned. “The five-star certification gives peace of thoughts to the general public.”

Static Ink Tattoo, 2964 Interstate 70 Enterprise Loop, No. 5, is awaiting its five-star certification. Proprietor Chad Erman mentioned that it’s going to be straightforward to fulfill requirements due to relationship with Mesa County Public Well being.

The well being division has been useful, however sanitation requirements on the whole are second nature to many tattoo store house owners and artists, he mentioned

“You’re introducing international substances into folks’s our bodies, so you need to watch out,” Erman mentioned.

Different house owners aren’t pressured attempting to fulfill the requirements, both.

LeGore has been the proprietor of Calamity Jane’s for eight years. The toughest a part of the lockdown for him was the uncertainty of how lengthy doorways could be closed.

“We made some contingency plans as far out as two years,” LeGore mentioned. “We use quite a lot of gloves and masks, so changing into a private protecting tools retailer was on the desk.”

Calamity Jane’s acquired its certification not too long ago and, like Uranker mentioned, cleansing procedures aren’t altering a lot.

Earlier than receiving the certification, Calamity Jane’s already required masks and temperature checks. Workers repeatedly cleaned. The one distinction now’s that the store retains a sanitation log.

Shoppers have additionally been understanding of the well being necessities, LeGore mentioned. He’s had no horror story of a belligerent buyer yelling at workers for requiring masks.

“Folks know getting a tattoo is a luxurious. We’d be among the many first to close down if there was one other lockdown,” LeGore mentioned. “Folks see our ranking, and so they‘re simply completely satisfied we’re open. They sympathize with small enterprise house owners and know we’re simply doing our greatest. It’s a comfort to the stress and uncertainty.”