COLUMBIA — A tattoo shop owner looking to expand as her business grows ran into an unexpected obstacle: a restriction that the city passed quietly in late 2021.
A city ordinance, passed as part of a revision to zoning rules, prevents tattoo shops from being approved to open within 1,000 feet — or about two city blocks — from an existing tattoo parlor.
That rule has blocked Stephanie Melora, owner of Southern Cypress Tattoo in Five Points, from adding three new booths across Greene Street from her shop, as that building has an existing tattoo parlor in it, plus her main space and another parlor nearby.
Melora made a plea before Columbia City Council on Jan. 17 to win an exception that would allow her to expand in Five Points, where she is on the district’s board.
“This is my home,” Melora told the council. “These are my people, and I want to see my business continue to grow in the community I love and serve.”
Inks and equipment are at the ready inside Southern Cypress Tattoo in Columbia. Mike Fitts/The Post and Courier
The city ordinance, paired with long-running limits on where tattoo businesses can be sited imposed by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, makes it even more challenging for those businesses to find locations.
Tattoo shops already face tight restrictions on locations statewide: they cannot be approved within 1,000 feet of a church entrance, city park or playground.
Ophidian Tattoo in the Arcade Mall on Main Street was able to argue successfully that its location was more than 1,000 feet from the main entrance of First Baptist Church. It was allowed to open in 2020.
Adding a new exclusion zone around existing parlors means even fewer locations are open to the tattoo industry, even as tattoos have become a more common sight.
Another limiting factor: Many national businesses that are the main tenants of shopping centers impose limits on what kinds of shops are allowed in the same retail area, including a ban on tattoo places, said Bobby Balboni, a commercial real estate broker at NAI Columbia.
If there’s not a formal legal block, there often is hesitancy from landlords to lease to the businesses.
Finding a space that is open and free of all the restricted spaces will be difficult, especially with the city’s added limit, Balboni said.
“It’s kind of Swiss cheese,” Balboni said. “You have to find a hole.”
The City Council recommended that the Southern Cypress issue be studied by its economic development committee at its next meeting.
At-large council member Howard Duvall said he supports the city’s 1,000-foot limit in general to limit the number of parlors in the city, but he supports an exception for Melora’s business.
Her business is well-run and her presence on the board of the Five Points Association is evidence that it’s a benefit to the community, Duvall said.
“She’s got some good arguments,” he said.
Duvall wonders whether the two spaces could be considered a single business instead of a new location, as they are across the street from one another.
The owner of Southern Cypress Tattoo would like to add space across Greene Street from her shop. Mike Fitts/The Post and Courier
Melora told The Post and Courier that she hopes her appeal will allow her to use the space across Greene Street and add one or two new artists and a new receptionist to her business.
She challenges the old perception that tattoo businesses are shady or detrimental to an area.
Her customers are often buying restaurant meals around Five Points before they get a tattoo, since it’s a good idea for a customer to have a full stomach, she said.
She has tattooed doctors, lawyers and breast cancer survivors, she said, so she rejects as outdated the stereotype that body art is only for bikers.
“I tattoo your barista who makes your morning bearable with a coffee,” Melora said.
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