Governor DeWine announced Thursday the reopening of barbershops and salons, leaving one industry in the dark -- tattoo shops.
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"The past two months have been a struggle," Matt Clemmer, owner of Aisle 9 Tattoo said.
Clemmer said none of his 10 employees have received any sort of unemployment since he was forced to close, and he’s been tapping into reserve funds for support.
“Everyone in our industry has either been left out or the last to receive government help...most of my guys are still waiting on their stimulous, so that’s made it extra tough.”
In mid-March, the tattoo industry was lumped in with hair salons and barber shops when they were forced to close. “There’s a gray area, there’s confusion there...” said Clemmer.
While many businesses have been given the go ahead to reopen, they are now asking Clemmer and his team to train them on how to properly sanitize.
"Everyone's talking about these new protocols, which thank god they are, but to really have the ability to operate properly with these protocols, takes real training and practice, but we are the masters at it, it's what we've done our whole careers."
Clemmers says he wants equal opportunity to reopen.
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"The guys who are professional trained and certified in these topics, we aren't even offered a seat at that table, it's confusing, almost hurtful. In this scenario it sure seems like we've been overlooked."
Clemmer told News Center 7's Kayla Courvell that people come to his shop for more than tattoos.
"We're all going through something and people come here, this is more than art, this is bigger than tattoos, this is therapy."
He hopes, and wants to know when, he can get back to serving the Centerville community.
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