January 17, 2012
Located on Blowers Street since 1999, Utility Tattoo and Piercing moved their business to 6070 Quinpool Road in November 2010. The owners, Mike Power and Andy Ferrier operate the business and also do tattoos. They call themselves Tattooers, and along with fellow tattoo artists Lydia and Matt, and their friendly greeter Melanie, make up the team at Utility Tattoo and Piercing. They have four tattoo stations in their studio.
They give me a brief history in the art of tattooing, telling me that tattoos have been around for a long time. Andy says, “They found a mummy in the Italian Alps that was between three and five thousand years old.” He adds, “In the Bronze Age, tattoos were surmised as healing marks”. Mike informs me that “Electric tattoos have been around since the 1890’s.”
Their customers come from all walks of life (18 to 70 year olds), but the majority of their clientele are students. They are pleased to tell me that they are in a growing business, and that television shows have really made their line of work mainstream.
Mike and Andy say the list of possible tattoos a person can get is endless, but their most popular tattoos are script and text tattoos. In addition to offering tattoos, they also sell Jewelry and T-Shirts.
Their marketing efforts include: advertising in the Coast and on Facebook, and have sponsored the last Tattoo convention. They have also advertised in a drug prevention magazine that was circulated to all of the local universities.
They recently had a Sailor Jerry Collins Day, where on his hundredth birthday customers could receive discounts on their tattoos. They also offered $40.00 tattoos of clovers and beer mugs on Saint Patrick’s Day.
When asked, “Why Quinpool?”, they tell me that they knew Jon Swinamer from PRO SKATEBOARDS & SNOWBOARDS and it was good timing for them to take over the building from Jon, when he left their current location to build a larger store on the west side of Quinpool. The timing worked out perfectly, as their building on Blowers Street was slated to be torn down in the near future.
“The move has been awesome, really good”, says Andy. “We have a lot more walk-ins coming to Quinpool Road”, adds Mike. This is music to my ears, it sounds like Utility Tattoo and Piercing have found an even better second home. All of this talk of tattoos makes me think I should get one… maybe in the shape of a Q.
For more information on Utility Tattoo and Piercing, call 420-1348, e-mail utilitygallery@gmail.com or visit www.utility-gallery.com