**UPDATE 7/1**
With the latest updates from Governor Kemp and Mayor Bottoms, our current policies will remain the same at least until 7/15/2020 or later.
Current Hours: Mon-Thurs: 11a-6p, Fri & Sat: 12p-8p, Sun: 12p-5p
Appointments & Masks Required.
No piercing or jewelry changes/insertions for nostril, septum, lip, and tongue.
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First, we will be operating exclusively by appointment for all services and to pick-up jewelry. This is to ensure that we are following social distancing guidelines and limiting the amount of folks in the studio. This will also allow us time to perform a thorough cleaning between each client. We will likely book up, especially on the weekends, so please plan accordingly.
In order to safely book an appointment, we’ll ask you some qualifying questions. If you’ve had a fever, dry cough, or been exposed to someone with suspected/confirmed COVID in the past 14 days, we ask that you wait to book your appointment. We will be checking everyone entering the studio for fevers with a non-contact thermometer and denying entry to anyone with a temperature over 100.4º F. We understand this does not take into account folks without symptoms, but this is recommended by the Governor, CDC and OSHA. Being sick can cause complications with your piercings on top of risking the health and safety of our staff and other guests.
We will have to be more strict with arrival times and cancellations. Due to social distancing, you must arrive on time for your appointment. If you arrive early, please wait in your car until we call you. If you are more than 5 minutes late, we will have to cancel your appointment (cancellation terms apply).
Next, our in-studio precautions will be more thorough.
- We ask that everyone wear a face covering/mask at all times. Please arrive at the studio wearing a mask/face covering of some sort or we will not be able to let you in. All of our staff will be wearing face masks/covers at all times as well.
- We will also ask everyone to use hand sanitizer upon entering the studio, as well as any time you touch your face or any merchandise/equipment. To reduce cross contamination, we cannot allow any direct handling/contact with jewelry. We will provide tools to touch indirectly, and those tools will be disinfected after each client.
- Until social distancing guidelines have been lifted, we can not allow guests/friends in the studio. Our studio lobby and piercing rooms are too small to maintain 6ft distancing with additional guests in the studio. The exceptions will be 1 parent accompanying each child/teenager, and 1 allowed guest for genital piercings. We can only allow parents/guests if they are a member of the same household as the piercee. Otherwise, we will only permit the person receiving the piercing in the studio.
- We will not have a water cooler or books/magazines in the lobby. We will also remove any upholstered furniture and replace them with more cleanable chairs.
- Because everyone is supposed to wear a face mask/cover in public, we do not feel it’s appropriate to offer nostril, septum, lip, or tongue piercings at this time. For the same reason, we cannot offer in person checkups/consultations for these piercings. Once this recommendation has been lifted, we will reconsider our offerings. We can offer earlobe piercings, all types of cartilage (helix, tragus, daith, etc), nipple, navel, and genital piercings. If you are receiving a conch piercing, please wear a mask that ties on the back of your head rather than looping around your ears.
- We cannot offer tandem piercings (2 piercers simultaneously) during this stage.
- For cleanliness, we will temporarily suspend acceptance of cash payments. We can accept all credit cards with working chips or contactless payments such as Apple Pay/GooglePay. We will ask you to insert your card in our chip reader or to issue payment via your phone.
- We are not able to reprocess worn jewelry at this time.
We will also be screening staff to ensure no one is working while sick. Anyone who feels ill or has a cough is asked not to work. We will be taking our temperatures daily to ensure no one has a fever over 100.4ºF.
We realize this will be a much different experience than “normal”. If any of these policies make you uncomfortable, please wait to schedule an appointment. Our policies will change as recommendations from local government, the CDC, and others change. This is “Phase 1”. We likely will not be able to allow guests or walk-ins until “Phase 3”.
We are now able to offer video/virtual consultations or checkups! Video quality does seem to vary significantly from time to time, so we may not always be able to see details of your piercing. You can book those here.
We are concerned that this reopening may be premature, meaning that we may see a second wave of infections in the state. If that occurs, we may have to close again. We are also concerned that supplies like masks and gloves will be in short supply. While we do have enough to safely operate for several weeks, we will be forced to close if we do not have the supplies necessary to protect our staff and clients. Body jewelry is a similar situation, as most of our suppliers are in California and are not able to operate. We do have enough jewelry to operate for a short time, but we cannot replenish our supplies or offer special orders until California is able to reopen. Even at that point, it will take several weeks for our orders to be manufactured and be shipped to us.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions to info@piercingexp.com!