The shop first opened its doors on December 8th, 2005 which was located at Morrill Ave in San Jose. There was a second location added in the Berryessa Shopping Center. In the year 2007, I closed both shops down and opened a bigger shop on the North side of San Jose off of East Santa Clara Street, in hope of sharing my knowledge and tattoo art. Over the years, with a fast growing team, the shop became a success. With the help of friends and relatives, word of mouth, yelp reviews, twitter, and facebook there was an increase number of clientele. Within the past few years, the tattoo industry became mainstream due to over popularity of reality TV shows. It seemed like it was a good thing at first for tattoo artists and small business owners like me. It even got me an interview and a picture of myself on the front page of San Jose Mercury News on June 28, 2010. Like many other tattoo artists around the world, I thought it would be good for business. We were wrong. Because of these shows, the tattoo industry began to grow, but for all the wrong reasons. Many people who were watching these shows were being misled, thinking that tattooing was an easy task. With the seemingly never ending recession knocking at our doors, people were slowly looking for ways to earn money. With this said, many people were going online, trying to order cheap knockoff tattoo kits. Without proper knowledge of health risks and no apprenticeships, people started to tattoo on friends and themselves with the help of watching videos from the internet. Then, without warning waves of people around the world began to apply at tattoo shops. Being turned down, most people quit, and some people kept on pushing. They were attending tattoo conventions, buying from suppliers who sold to just any one who was waving money in their faces. At a fast pace, shops were opening on every corner, filling up vacant buildings, with the hope of making fast cash. Don’t get me wrong, I really want to see people become successful. But just like everything else, having too much or too many is not a good thing. Here in San Jose alone, a great number of these shops are opening every other day. I believe the count is over 30 and counting. WAY TOO MANY! So, this is my goodbye to 4zeroEight Tattoo and Body Piercing. This is my goodbye to the shop that stayed opened late every night for almost 7 years, 7 days a week and 12 to 14 hours a day, trying to satisfy that ink addiction and making sure every client was taken care of. This is my goodbye to the shop, for many years that have stolen time from my personal life and precious time away from my family. This is my goodbye to the shop that I had worked so hard for and paid the price with blood, sweat and tears. This is my goodbye to my shop.
The shop will be closing by the end of July, beginning of August. To all the good times, bad times, laughter, old friends and the new, thank you. Please be informed that I will continue to tattoo by request at another location, which I will let everyone know very soon. For now until the end of July, I will be posting closing out specials that you would not want to miss. For future promotions, always keep in touch. My contact number, twitter, personal facebook account and email address will still be the same.
I would like to thank the thousand plus fans of 4ZEROEIGHT on Facebook, in and out of the country alike, for following and supporting us every time. I would also like to thank my wife and 2 children for their continuous support, patience, and prayers. And lastly, I would like to thank you, the clientele, for being you and for all the opportunities you have given me to work on your designs and it was my pleasure and honor to tattoo them.