Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a Montoursville business forced to close due to flooding, is coming alive once again.
"I didn't know how I was going to recover," said Dean Jones, owner of Shake 'N Ink tattoo shop.
His world was thrown off course last September when waters from Loyalsock Creek and the Susquehanna River inundated his business along Broad Street.
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MIKE?REUTHER.Sun-Gazette
Tattoo artist Dean Jones works at his Montoursville studio. Jones is reopening after the floods of September, 2011 destroyed his old tattoo parlor.
Now, he plans to reopen the business right next door.
"I just look forward to being back in business," he said. "We look forward to seeing all our customers."
Jones, 40, was not insured and flood waters not only heavily damaged his business site, but destroyed much of his inventory.
He plans to have his new site at 190 Broad St. up and running by the end of this month.
At 2,300-square feet, his new business will offer larger quarters than ever.
Jones said he had no intention of locating out of the flood zone or in another community.
"It's convenient," he said. "Supposedly, we are getting a dike in Montoursville."
He has plenty of parking out front and there's loads of vehicle traffic going past his shop on Broad Street.
"I like this end of Montoursville," he said. "I've been here 10 years."
Besides, he's a Montoursville native and likes his hometown.
The eight months of getting back on his feet, he said, have been a tough road.
Losing his business, if only temporarily, not only affected him but his two employees who no longer had a place to work.
But he was determined to continue with the business.
He said he had only brief thoughts of doing something else such as "working for a gas company."
After all, he's been a "natural artist" ever since he was a kid.
"I can't imagine doing something else," he said. "I love the business. I love the customers."
Jones had long wanted to be a tattoo artist, but for much of his adult life did other things, including a job as a salesman.
With his heavily tattooed arms, Jones identifies with his customers and understands why people get tattoos.
"Every tattoo has a meaning behind it," he said. "There's always a story. Most people have a story. Then, you have the customers who just want to get a tattoo."
Jones, who also offers body piercings, said it's the sort of business that has grown in recent years with much of mainstream America going for skin art, including doctors, lawyers and nurses.
Jones looked around the empty space of his new business which he hopes to have up and ready for customers in a few weeks.
"I got to get cabinets up, new chairs," he said. "The bathroom needs finished."
He's hopeful, he said, of the future.
