A quick, noncomprehensive survey of the Arkansas Times staff indicates that at least nine of our current employees have passed through the doors of 7th Street Tattoo and Piercing and emerged a short while later with permanent ink on their bodies. Evidently, it’s just as popular with our readers; the shop has spent the last five years at the top of the tattoos category in our annual Best of Arkansas poll.
One of the longest-running parlors in Little Rock, 7th Street Tattoo was opened in 1998 by Robert Berry, who began his tattoo career later in life. “When I first started tattooing … tattoo shops didn’t take credit cards and they were seedy. It was almost like peep shows and then tattoo shops — that’s how it felt,” Berry, 67, said. “Because I came from the advertising world and the prepress world and I didn’t start tattooing until I was 40, I brought in the credit card machine and customer service.”
Originally a one-man operation at 1009 W. Seventh St., the shop quickly outgrew itself — multiple times. Two expansions into neighboring rooms in the same building eventually provided enough space for six artists, but Berry still wanted a bigger floorplan. In 2011, the business moved to 814 W. Seventh St., only a couple of blocks away. The neon sign that beckons like a lighthouse above the parlor is easily visible from its original digs. Now, 7th Street Tattoo, which shares walls with 7th Street Salon, boasts 13 artists and employs all four of Berry’s children in various capacities.
“I’m gonna tattoo till I die,” Berry said. “Everybody hopes they die in their sleep or having sex, right? My fantasy is that I do a tattoo, tell a joke, they laugh, I wipe the tattoo off and I drop dead.”
