After having to temporarily close their doors because of COVID-19, a new tattoo shop that opened in Bemidji at the beginning of this year has now reopened with new measures to keep customers safe.

Living Legends is a tattoo parlor and piercing shop in the heart of downtown Bemidji. It is owned by two friends who have over 30 years of combined experience in the industry.

When they decided to get together they wanted to create a space to celebrate body art and piercings, the owners renovated their location, a former smoke shop, themselves.

When COVID-19 hit, they had to shut down all appointments for over two months. Now that they have had to reopen, they have moved to an appointment-only model. This means they have been able to continue seeing clients, but not as frequently as they once were. Since reopening, they also are requiring masks inside the shop and have been doing extra sanitizing throughout the day.

The shop hopes to start selling more merchandise including t-shirts in the future.

By — Betsy Melin