By Dionne Meehan
DONEGAL’S longest running tattoo studio ‘Xtreme Tattoo’ has announced they will be closing their doors due to rising costs.
Opened 23 years this month, the owner of the Letterkenny business, Wez Hughes took to social media this week to inform customers of the closure.
“This month Xtreme Tattoo is 23 years open and I never thought I would be writing this post. Over the last few years business has been physically, mentally and financially draining for a few reasons but mainly due to the cost of living crisis that is going on at the moment.
“So after a lot, and I mean a lot of thought and looking at different ways not to be doing this I have made the decision with a heavy heart to close the studio,” the post read.
Wez, who is originally from Scotland, has been living in Letterkenny for the past 24 years.
With an interest in art from a young age, he found it hard to get an apprenticeship when he was starting out.
Opening his own body piercing studio in Letterkenny in 2000, Wez began growing contacts in the tattoo industry.
Learning from these contacts, Wez began an apprenticeship under his own roof.
“Usually you would work under someone and go from there but I already had my own studio,” he said.
“Tattooing became a lot busier than the piercing so I ended up branching into tattooing.”
However, when the pandemic hit, the business began to struggle.
Closed for a period of almost two years, Wez said they still weren’t out of the woods when the business re-opened due to social distancing restrictions.
“Because of the type of business we are, we were very close one on one.
“I’d say that probably put a lot of people off.
“As some things loosened up we did get busier but it just never really came back to itself,” he said.
Now hit with a financial crash and rising costs, Wez said everything got on top of each other and he had to make the decision with a “heavy heart” to close up shop.
“It was a big step but with everything going on I have made peace with myself.
“Maybe it’s time for a new chapter and to try something different,” he said.
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