Top 3 Tattoo Shops in the Philadelphia Metro Area

When you are looking for the best place to get a tattoo, a couple of things are certain: you want a clean and respectable place. You want to be sure that the person giving you the tattoo can be trusted and the shop has a good reputation. I currently have 22 tattoos and the credit for the tattooing of at least ten of them go to the three shops below.

Shane & Imperial Dragon Tattoo

The infamous Shane Munce holds a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for 'The Longest Suspension from the Least Amount of Hooks," which he achieved in April of 2000. He started his career in the Norristown Tattoo Company, and has since moved on to Imperial Dragon Tattoo located at 920 North Providence Road, Media PA, about a half hour from Philadelphia and worth every minute of the drive. His online site, RedRum Tattoo Gallery, is the place to go for information on how to set an appointment. I visited Shane when he still worked at Norristown Tattoo Company (see below). Shane is a master tattooist and piercer and I definitely recommend him to anyone who needs perfection-and we all do when it comes to our tattoos-make an appointment with Shane, you certainly will not regret it. The imperial Dragon Tattoo studio as well as all of their staff are licensed by the Pennsylvania Board of Health and certified in blood bourne pathogens as well as first aid, as required by the state. Shane and the rest of the staff hold multiple awards and are part of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists and the national Tattoo Association among others. For more information, visit RedRumTattoo.com, or the Imperial Dragon Tattoo Fan page on Facebook or call 484.444.0133.

Norristown Tattoo Company

Located at 348 West Main Street in Norristown, this was the home of Shane Munce. This is also where I received a good many of my tattoos, over ten of them in fact. One when Shane was here and the others by another artist, Tony who has since gone. The others who currently work there are wonderful as well. I like the overall friendly attitude of this tattoo shop, it is bright and clean and the tattooists do not look at you with their noses in the air, if you know what I mean. They understand the need for relaxation because the last thing you want when getting a tattoo is to be all tensed up and nervous. It can make for a not so nice outcome. This shop is also certified by the Pennsylvania Board of Health in bloodbourne pathogens and first aid and has won awards at tattooing conventions in the past as well. For more information or to make an appointment, contact norristowntattoocompany@lbu.com or visit the website at NorristownTattooCompany.lbu.com or call 610-272-2347.

Mark My Flesh

This shop is located at 4611 Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia PA. It is a fairly new shop however, the tattooists themselves have a long history of creating beautiful designs and doing excellent work at other places. This shop is large, brightly lit and very clean. They use state of the art tattooing equipment and are certified by the Pennsylvania Board of health for bloodbourne pathogens and first aid. I received my latest tattoo there about a year ago and while I designed it, they did an excellent job at tattooing it. It was a coveruop of a name turned into a beautiful flower and Sanskrit saying. For more information, call 215-533-1149 or visit their MySpace page to look at the staff's portfolios at MySpace/MarkMyFlesh. Their website is still under construction at MarkMyFlesh.com.

I hope you will consider any one of these fine tattoo shops. They have all been licensed by the state and have a history of great tattooing and friendliness that is unsurpassed by any other I know-and believe me I know many!

National Tattoo Association
Alliance of Professional Tattoos
MySpace.com: Mark My Flesh
Norristown Tattoo Company
Facebook: Imperial Dragon Tattoo
Shane Munce: RedRum Tattoo Gallery