SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Walking into the new Heart Tattoo, one feels as though they are stepping into a bit of a fun house. Down a flight of stairs into a waiting room plastered with flash art, then back up some more steps and into the brightly lit studio.
Just months ago the tattoo studio at 1819 S Minnesota Ave. was a different kind of studio; Relevé dance studios. Heart Tattoo owners Tyler Hanson and Tim Jewell say they still talk with Relevé owners from time to time.
Hanson and Jewell like their new spot, which officially opened on Monday.
“The strip malls are pretty cut and dry. This has definitely more of a homey type of feel to it. Different rooms kind of here and there and a little bit of a maze,” said Hanson. “I think when people walk in, they get a little, little almost overwhelmed with all the flash (art) that kind of hits you right away.”
A maze is one way to describe it. The shop has three levels; a main floor, a bit of a loft area, and a basement. “We’re not even doing anything with (the basement) yet. So we have a we have a ton more space for sure, but for now we’re just kind of enjoying like sprawling out and having a little more room,” said Jewell.
This is quite different from their former spot.
Heart Tattoo set up their initial location in a strip mall along 41st St. 5 years ago.
“We got it all set up — the way we wanted it — kind of lived in it and had this in the back of our head,” said Jewell. “I think this is maybe more of like — the final puzzle piece or the final, you know, the final level. I guess you could say now we just grow into this over the next how many years and let it keep filling up and we’ll be there.”
For those who were taking their kids to dance lessons in the building just months ago, the difference is striking. “Our buddy Ted Lacey helped us out — he was our general contractor, and we just had a general idea. Tyler was a lot of the brains behind that part of it,” said Jewell.
Despite a lot of work going into transforming the space from a dance studio to a tattoo shop, Hanson said it’s gone pretty well. “It’s been really smooth,” he said. “We haven’t had too many hiccups, which has been cool. I mean, other than the stress of doing it — there was moments of like — why did we make this decision? But for the most part, everything was pretty easy.”
On the decision to take the leap and go from leasing to owning, Jewell said they knew their lease was coming to an end, and it was really a question of re-upping that lease, or finding their own place.
“It was pretty much either buy a spot or stay exactly where we were. It wasn’t a matter of we’re going to rent a different spot,” said Jewell.
Jewell said they were happy at their old location, having formed good relationships with their neighbors, but that it was time to take the next step. “We both have children,” he said of himself and Hanson, indicating that they made the purchase with them in mind.
“Obviously, I think the tattoo artist in us hopes that one or more of them will become tattoo artists and get to just take over that,” said Jewell. “But even if not, you know, we have a space that they can someday live out their dreams in.”
Part of what makes Hanson and Jewell confident in their choice to buy is the relative stability they’ve had.
“We’ve had the same crew for the whole five years, pretty much,” said Jewell. “One of our first business partners, Heath, moved out to Philadelphia — other than that, we haven’t had any turnover at all, which we were just talking about yesterday is kind of almost wild in our industry.”
Heart Tattoo is made up of 11 artists, and Jewell says keeping a group like that together over five years is a bit unheard of.
One unexpected turn in the interview came when discussing the building’s past, and the owners’ plans for the future.
“I knew this as Lost Marbles (an antiques shop)” said Hanson. “So when it was for sale, I knew that the space itself was going to be really cool just from being in here and we’re pretty much going to like turn it into a, you know, like a tattoo antique shop is what’s gonna happen.”
This ability to be more than just one thing; a tattoo shop but a antique shop too — an ability the building itself has showcased over time — is something that Hanson and Jewell see in their business.
“I think that’s part of having an amalgamation of 11 artists, too, is like, everyone kind of has freedom in their station,” Jewell said. “It somehow kind of all comes together, you know, in the common spaces and stuff like that. It’s like I said, that feeling when you walk into a tattoo shop — whether it’s your first one or hundredth tattoo — you kind of get that little buzz when you walk in and, like, almost want to get tattooed.”
