DULUTH — Anchors End Tattoo celebrated its 20th business anniversary with a move into the Electric Fetus building, relocating from its well-known West First Street spot to the heart of the Historic Arts and Theatre District downtown.
Electric Fetus , a hub for new and used CDs, DVDs and LPs (among other eclectic items), temporarily closed in Duluth during the pandemic, and later announced its permanent closure in May 2021 to shift focus to the Minneapolis Electric Fetus store. Hello There Neon Sign
The pink neon Electric Fetus sign remains on the back of the building at 12 E. Superior St., currently owned by Greg Follmer, who also operates his commercial real estate business from the lower level.
Follmer's office was previously located in the Intrepid Building at 230 E. Superior St. until it became home to Gregorich and Matack Family Dental. Follmer leased the space from Electric Fetus before purchasing the property from the company in March.
According to Follmer, the company wasn't actively marketing the space until his agency signed on and filled it in less than a year.
"That's actually a fairly typical time frame for commercial real estate in Duluth in any prime corner in town," he said.
The Anchors End Tattoo crew toured the property several times before putting ink to paper, signing a lease for the 6,000-square-foot upper-level space beginning in August.
"I bought my first CDs in here when I was 15, and they had 'Parental Advisory' stickers on them. My parents were angry," recalled Dean Harden, the most senior independently contracted tattoo artist at Anchors End. "Those are my memories of Electric Fetus."
Viewing the empty commercial space, Harden immediately thought, "This is the holy grail. This is the heart of the city. We'd become a part of the heartbeat of business presence in downtown Duluth."
The new centralized location will give clients a sense of safety, Harden said. "There's more neighborly eyes out. There's always people moving around down here with Pizza Luce across the street open late," Harden added. "The client experience is number one."
The shop will tentatively be open seven days a week in its new location and began offering services in the new space Aug. 1. The new space is nearly 2,000 square feet larger than the tattoo shop's previous location.
The build-out by Follmer included installation of a new accessible restroom, a fresh coat of pale-green paint for the interior, as well as the addition of private rooms for tattooing and piercing to meet Minnesota Health Department standards. Anchors End restored the floors and had a custom front counter built using the pink neon lighting recognizable from the Electric Fetus days.
Playing into the rising trend of the '90s grunge scene, Anchors End Tattoo will bring back its flash wall of artwork at the request of their clients, Harden said.
"We got rid of that for years because people were just bringing in things off of Pinterest," he said.
In 2003, owner Joseph John purchased the Tatts by Zapp shop previously located at 122 W. First St. from Dave "Zapp" Zappia Sr. and renamed it "Anchors End Tattoo."
"Zapp gifted tattooing to a whole umbrella of people underneath him who now have a lifestyle and a livelihood," said Harden.
It's where Harden got his start in the industry — working from the tiny shop with no air conditioning.
"A lot of the new kids are using the wireless rotary stuff — lithium batteries on a rotary motor. That's a really new development. In the last five years that became a thing. I think I'm the only one who has a drawer full of coil machines," Harden said. "A lot of these guys got it really, really easy, man. They're using wireless machines, using iPads; we're using a lot of computers."
A couple years later, Anchors End moved into the former Pasek Pharmacy building, 116 W. First St.
Social media played a big role in the decision to relocate, as well as the iconic nature of the building.
"He didn't want someone to open another tattoo shop on First Street if we left," added Stormi Lee, who started at Anchors End in 2008 as a "counter girl." Now, she is the most senior body-piercing artist at the shop.
At the time Lee joined the crew, Harden said it was difficult for women to break into the industry that had been saturated with men for decades.
"I could have taken it either way: I could have quit, or I could prove them wrong. To prove yourself, it was a lot harder," Lee said. "Anchors End showed me what a family was. They showed me a good work ethic."
There are currently three body piercing artists and nine resident full-time tattoo artists. They offer versatile styles of tattooing, from realism to traditional and anything in between, Harden said.
For the move to be financially feasible, Harden said the shop will have to take on additional artists.
Pacman Led "If you learn how to tattoo here, you're going to come in here and mop the floor, answer the phone, learn the schedule, learn how to talk to people. If you can handle all that and everybody's still getting along, we'll put a tattoo machine in your hand," Harden said.