Tattoo, piercing studio offers ‘Physical Graffiti’

Published 10:01 am Thursday, June 20, 2013

SOUTH POINT — With her multi-colored hair, pierced nose and numerous tattoos, Physical Graffiti manager Misty “George” Jones is the walking, talking embodiment of what the shop has to offer — a little bit of everything.

She said when The Counterculture Shop was bought out last year by Physical Graffiti, all involved wanted the new South Point business to be warmer and more inviting to all types of customers.

“We want this to be a place for everyone,” Jones said. “A lot of times it’s mom or grandma bringing kids in for piercings and we don’t want them to sit around bored. We want them to say ‘Hey, I’m going to look at this over there’ while their kid is getting pierced.”

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With a wide-range of products from incense to hand-made jewelry, Physical Graffiti really does try to have at least one thing any person can walk into the shop and walk back out happy, Jones said.

Having worked at the shop when it was still Counterculture, Jones said the look of the place is as different as night and day. While the old look had lots of beige, bamboo and bad lighting, Jones said the new brighter, more colorful look creates a more cutting edge appearance.

“The boldest thing about Counterculture was my hair,” Jones said.

One of the biggest changes is the shift to making the shop primarily a tattoo and piercing parlor, Jones said. She said Counterculture focused more on being a goods-based store.

Customers seem to like the change, Jones said. She said people coming back in the shop for the first time since it became Physical Graffiti often let out long “wows” and “dudes” as they look around amazed.

Lori Jackson, operations manager for Physical Graffiti Inc., agreed with Jones, saying the new look definitely seems to be resonating with customers. She said one of the key factors in the continued success of the shop is the fact every employee has a voice in suggesting ways to add new product or improve existing displays.

“Everyone matters here, part-time and full-time employees,” Jackson said. “They work hard and have great ideas. If they bring up something they think will sell well, most likely we will get it and give it a shot.”

Jackson said Physical Graffiti Inc. is dedicated to providing high-quality good and services to the public, but one of their main goals is providing local jobs. The small shop currently has nine full- and part-time employees with talents as eclectic as the shop itself. She said the shop has tattoo artists, piercers, make-up artists and more.

Physical Graffiti is located off of Walmart Way, which runs between Sam’s Club and Speedway. Potential customers can go down past Speedway, turn left just before Little Caesars and then go down just a bit before turning left into a small shopping center parking lot.