How Tattoo Shops Are Making Back-To-School Life Better

Goodfellas Tattoo Shop’s co-owner, Kenneth Fors, is providing a unique opportunity for clients, parents and kids heading back to school. Giving a discount on your ink, Fors will provide pens and markers, along with other school supplies for students, completely free of charge.

According to an interview in MSN Lifestyle, Fors said, “We just told everybody if you bring in school supplies, we’re gonna give you a discount off your tattoo,” adding, “We had backpacks, notebooks, pencils, papers, I mean everything,” he said.

“Here at the tattoo shop, we’re able to reach all kinds of people from different walks of life,” Fors said. “Kids came in here and they got to pick out their own folders and notebooks, their own colors and backpacks and stuff.”

Attending Kansas City Public Schools himself, through 9th grade, Fors’ Back-To-School drive is the first of what the Goodfellas owner plans to be an annual event. “This community is what built me, and built our business and our families,” he said. “They support us every single day, I think we need to reciprocate that.”

The tattoo shop will donate any extra supplies to local schools and nonprofits. They will hopefully spark change for other shops across the globe. Needle Kings in Kennewick, Washington, is another shop to follow the back-to-school good-doing.

The artists at Needle Kings gave away more than 200 backpacks, wanting to give back to those in need. Especially as many artists themselves knew what it was like to live without such help.

Artist Eric “Q” Quintero says now that the artists know what success feels like, they want to give back, saying in a KEPR interview, “We are so grateful to this community, to our customers, and without them, we are nothing.”

He also adds that the giveaway is an attempt to soften the image of tattoo-artists. “We’d just like to have people come by,” Quintero said. “Stop in and see we’re not all bad.”

Quintero adds, “It’s becoming more mainstream now. Everyone has a tattoo but there are still people that are uncomfortable going into a tattoo shop the very first time.”

Like Goodfellas, the Needle Kings artist said, “This is our first year doing the giveaway, but it’s just the beginning. There’s lots more to come.”