New downtown Wichita business grows out of another popular one nearby

Three longtime Hell Bomb Tattoo employees have opened their own shop not far from the longtime East Douglas business.

“Now just felt like the right time,” said partner Shaila Roach.

Part of the timing has to do with some Hell Bomb news, which will be coming shortly.

Roach said she and Megan Shelton have been discussing getting their own place for years. They and Tyler Warren have now opened Tenfold Tattoo just around the corner and down from Hell Bomb.

Roach said the new shop at 328 S. Laura is designed to be “a cozy, inclusive space” for traditional tattooing along with a range of other tattooing services, including permanent makeup, nipple and areola reconstruction for breast cancer survivors and transgender individuals and other gender-affirming tattooing.

“We offer, honestly, dang near everything,” Roach said.

In addition to the three owners, there are four tattoo artists on staff.

Roach said the one thing they don’t offer is portrait-style tattoos.

“There’s just a lot of people in town that do that,” she said of others who excel at it.

Roach said it was difficult to find a place to open due to the city’s zoning laws that prevent tattoo parlors in certain areas.

Though the new space, which is about 2,600 square feet, doesn’t have Douglas frontage — it’s almost three blocks south of it — Roach said the shop doesn’t necessarily need it.

“We’re kind of moving over with a lot of built-in clients.”

Roach said it’s taken a lot of years of caring service to develop that clientele, which is the inspiration behind the Tenfold name.

“We have all . . . spent a really long time working in other people’s shops,” she said.

“This is the opportunity for that to come back to us.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2024 at 1:22 PM.