Seasonal tattoo shop now open year-round in Rehoboth Beach

“A good tattoo ain’t cheap, and a cheap tattoo ain’t good,” said Orlando Navarrete. It’s his business ethos and the reason his Rehoboth Beach tattoo and piercing parlor The Spot is now open year-round. He found the people to ink the good tattoos.

“I think I’ve got the right staff,” he said. The Spot, located on the Rehoboth Avenue extension next to Sign-A-Rama, is home to tattoo artists Ken Rathbone and Rob Remp.

Remp has been inking for 15 years, and he said he enjoys the long creative leash clients sometimes allow. Recently, he said, a father and son came to The Spot and asked for tattoos of their astrological signs. How he designed them, the clients said, was up to Remp.

“That was right up my alley,” Remp said.

Rathbone has been tattooing for 10 years. Wiry and soft-spoken, he said he lives for the bigger, more artistically ambitious pieces clients sometimes request. It isn’t hard to see why – both Rathbone and Remp have arms covered in intricate, interlocking designs. Part of the fun, Rathbone said, is collaborating with clients on an original design.

Both admit that the bread-and-butter of their business are small, concealable tattoos ordered up by the beach crowd.

Many make it a birthday present.

“They don’t waste any time here,” Remp said, laughing. “They turn 18, and they’re here.”

Navarrete is the parlor’s sole piercer – with 12 years’ experience, he says he won’t let anyone else do the job.

The piercing room is white-walled and sterile as an operating room; a note on the walls tells clients that yes, it looks like a doctor’s office, but they should relax.

“We try to have a sense of humor, here,” Navarrete said. He charges $40 for a regular piecing, $50 for a barbell. Tattoos start at $50 and get more expensive depending on the size and complexity.

The Spot has been a summer fixture for six years. Navarrete described his decision to stay open year-round as a leap of faith.

“I pay my rent in the summer, so I want to milk it for all that I can, you know?” he said.

The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Sunday. Call 302-226-8145.