Indiana’s stay-at-home order, issued by Governor Eric Holcomb Monday to combat the spread of COVID-19, also closed down a list of businesses considered non-essential. That includes hair salons, barber shops, spas--and tattoo parlors.
“It’s a little worrisome, because we don’t know when it’s going to end,” said Evil Genius Tattoo Club owner Krist Karloff. “We don’t know when everyone’s going to be able to start making money again.”
Karloff has owned the shop, located on Main Street in downtown Lafayette, for almost five years. He said he has plans to take care of his staff of six tattoo artists and five front desk staff, including recent purchases of food and household goods to offset some of their living expenses.
“We have a savings account that we’ve set back a considerable amount of money for, just in case anybody needs it,” Karloff said. “And they can just essentially take a loan from the studio, and pay us back as they need in the future.”
He said the shop had already been “doubling down” on its usual cleaning practices for clients -- the close-up, physical nature of a tattoo artist’s work already makes hygiene especially important. Evil Genius Tattoo Club also began limiting the number of people allowed to enter the shop with clients, ensuring one-to-one appointments.
“On average, we have about 350 clients a month,” Karloff said.
Tattoos can vary in price based on their size and design, but Karloff said tattoos there can run $150 to $200 dollars per hour of work. They also offer piercings and sell jewelry. He said a recent week-long closure to install new flooring cost the shop about $10,000--so that’s a number he’s keeping in mind.
“We’ve been talking about this for weeks,” Karloff said. “And, you know, I kind of expect that this is going to be a problem that we’re going to have for six weeks. I don’t foresee us being open the entire month of April. Honestly. I can’t see it, with what’s going on currently.”
Karloff said his team could make money producing other works of art during the closure, with tattooing off the table for now.
“A lot of us do have other forms of income,” Karloff said. “We have paintings that we sell, drawings that we sell. We make merchandise for ourselves. T-shirts, stickers, that sort of thing.”
Karloff said they’ll “absolutely” miss tattooing.
“We spend 70 hours a week in the studio most of the time. It’s kind of like our second house,” Karloff said. “Our second home.”
For now, Karloff said, he and his staff will keep looking at each day’s news, waiting to see what happens next--and remaining cool.