The seeming decline of "street shop" tattoo parlors

[JeromeV]

I'm a jack of all trades artist in a fairly average shop. You could call us a street shop by the amount of flash on the walls and the number of walk-ins we do per day, but over 90% of the work we do is custom.

The good old days of street shops is over. People look down on "picking off the wall" and instead turn to cell phones. Which generally means they want something even more unoriginal that won't age well and it always comes with a pile of other complications. The stuff we have up on the wall these days is phenomenal, and we can tattoo stuff like that all day long, but almost nobody looks or cares. As an artist who hasn't really specialized in anything by choice, I'm doing whatever the customer wants, day in and day out. Compared to when I first started tattooing 10 years ago, the average tattoo tourist isn't looking for a street shop, they just want a spa-like service that will fulfill their tattooing desires.

[Colored Guy]

People are influenced by what they see on TV. There people walk into a shop, hand the artist something scribbled on a beer coaster, the artist says, okay.. give me 5 minutes to draw it up. The client sits and waits, the artist comes out with a sketch... client goes wow... and the tattoo is complete before the first commercial.

So everyone wants something unique to them. I've had 5 flash pieces put on me over the years and I've never ever seen anyone else with the same thing on them.

[Kimmie]

Back in the day, if you wanted a tattoo right on the spot, you had to settle on something from off the wall. Shops were so busy on Fridays & Saturdays that if you hesitated, the chair would be yanked right out from under your ass.

Nowadays, I think a lot of clients have shifted from wanting a tattoo right on the spot to wanting something custom, so shop styles are shifting with them.

People are influenced by what they see on TV. There people walk into a shop, hand the artist something scribbled on a beer coaster, the artist says, okay.. give me 5 minutes to draw it up. The client sits and waits, the artist comes out with a sketch... client goes wow... and the tattoo is complete before the first commercial.

I would like to think there's an understanding with those shows that clients aren't everyday walk ins off the street. They're coming in for an appointment that combines the consult and tattooing because their concept has already been discussed and prepared for. Reality shows are popular because they're entertaining, not realistic.

[Bmore]

Most recent tattoo I got was on a flash dedicated Friday. It was awesome because I was off work that day, the weather was beautiful, and I just happened upon this information, so it turned into the perfect opportunity. My girlfriend and I rolled up to the shop, which had a clothing/jewelry boutique in the front, and a flash-lined hallway leading to a flash-covered shop in the back. There were a few people ahead of me in line, so we stopped at the bar around the corner since it was gonna be about an hour wait. There was a group of people from out of town there, and they took an interest in this flash day as they overheard us talking. It got to be time for me to head back over and get started, and probably about halfway through my sitting, in comes the group from the bar so the one dude could get tattooed before they had to leave. I liked that vibe, everyone getting these impromptu tattoos because, hell, today's as good a day as any.