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Santa Barbara Co. tattoo shops struggle as closure continues

Posted at 7:06 PM, Jun 22, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-22 22:24:48-04

Personal care services, like tattoo parlors and nail salons, continue to take a big hit in Santa Barbara County during the coronavirus pandemic.

This comes after the county was forced to put the reopening of those businesses on hold due to an increasing rate of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Other counties around California including San Luis Obispo County reopened services such as nail salons, barbershops, and tattoo parlors with limited capacity and modifications last Friday.

Captive Hearts Tattoo in Santa Maria is one of the many businesses struggling to stay afloat.

They've been in Santa Maria for almost 13 years and say the only reason they haven’t closed their doors for good is because of help from community members and close friends.

Owner Sabin Brock says sanitation shouldn’t be an issue for them because they were trained for that.

"We are well equipped with sanitation and sterility in every way shape or form. If anyone is equipped to handle this circumstance, we are, so why not let us flex our muscles," Brock said.

Brock says he is not sure how much longer he can manage to keep the shop from going out of business if the county doesn’t start to reopen soon.

Santa Barbara County officials have not given a date of when exactly personal care industries will be able to open up again.