For more than 10 years Dawn Webb owned and operated her award-winning tattoo studio in the SeaGrape Plaza on Fort Myers Beach. Every business in the SeaGrape Plaza was wiped out by Hurricane Ian. Webb says, after 13 months, she’s finally ready to open back up.
After receiving no help from FEMA or the Florida Small Business Administration, and with very little insurance help, Webb has somehow managed to work through all the challenges and is now ready to reopen her studio.
Webb is opening her new studio in the Indian Creek Plaza, across from Wal-Mart, which is currently going through a complete exterior renovation. She told us it feels amazing and surreal to reopen. “This last year has been a roller coaster. Looking for the perfect space in the perfect location. Either the spaces I looked at were too damaged, in the wrong area, or would not allow a tattoo shop. There is still that stigma attached to our business that it attracts unsavory characters. If you visit my shop, you’ll see that’s not the case.”
Webb says when she first looked at the Indian Creek Plaza, it was looking rough and there was already a tattoo shop there, so it couldn’t work anyway. “When another plaza fell through in Iona because they needed their entire roof replaced, we hit the road again, and circled back to Indian Creek. I Called Danielle Robinson, the realtor handling that plaza and she told us about the renovations to come. The plaza is going to be beautiful. The guys are out there working hard every day. It’s so cool to watch the transformation. The previous tattoo shop abandoned the space after the hurricane and the unit was perfect for us. We moved in on August 15th and have been working to make it ours. I can’t wait for everyone to see it. It’s a very pretty shop. I’m very proud that we didn’t give up. I did not get any relief from the government, but some friends put together a GoFundMe to help. Thanks to some wonderful people, we were able to bring Paradise Tattoo back to life. We’ve had an incredible amount of love and support from people all over the world and I’ve cried so many tears of gratitude, that were once tears of sorrow.”
Here’s the link to the Grand Re-Opening party on Saturday November 11th.
Reach out to Dawn by e-mail at dawnwebbtattoo@gmail.com
Here’s a look at Dawn’s studio in the SeaGrape Plaza before the storm…
