Talking Business: Heart Attack Tattoo Joins Longview’s Tattoo Scene | Local business

Heart Attack Tattoo opened in early June in a downtown storefront. This week, the store added piercings to its list of body artists.

Owner Kevin Bryson has been tattooing in Longview for seven years and worked in Portland for years before coming to Washington. In the year In early 2022, Bryson suffered a heart attack. In recovery, Bryson said the experience helped him pursue a long-term goal of starting his own business with his wife.

“This was a critical moment. I realized that I needed to go from talking about things to doing. Saying I want to do this didn’t make me want to open a store,” Bresson said.

Heartache has four professional tattoo artists, two interns and a piercing staff. Apprenticeships are a training program for beginning tattoo artists where they work under a more experienced designer for a year or more to create increasingly sophisticated designs.

Bryson said most of the employees come from stores he previously worked at in Longview or Southwest Washington. Angela Ross, the new pier, said she previously worked with many artists at other local stores.

“I think I’ve done something to everyone who works here,” said Scarlett Hinz, one of the tattoo artists.

A table at the front of the store offers a portfolio of each artist’s work for customers to pass by. Some designers focus on colorful pieces, while others focus on gray art or traditional line designs.

The shop’s decor is a mix of macabre and inviting. The front of the store is full of plastic skulls, weird paintings and other oddities. The plants and the windows in the front give the store a brighter feeling of natural light.

Bryson said he wants the business to be inviting to anyone who comes. Part of that, he said, is the camaraderie the employees have with each other.

“There’s always a positive attitude in the shop.”

Bryson said he’s happy with the early traffic the store has gotten. There are customers who have followed Hienz or other artists to the new shop for years. The store also receives daily walk-ins and people asking about getting their first urinal.

This week, in addition to the heart attack station, they are in the process of adding two more booths, bringing the total up to six workstations. Bryson talked about eventually expanding to the second floor to give interns their own space.

“Longview is kind of a small town, the area isn’t that big, but we have a lot of tattoo shops around because people want to get tattooed. There’s a real need,” Hienz said.