A pillar in Toronto's tattoo scene is saying goodbye to his iconic shop with a few parting words on the standards in his industry.

Joey Nixon, a founding partner at Adrenaline, says he's shutting down the Toronto location of his tattoo and piercing shop after nearly 20 years on Queen Street W., citing financial difficulties. Adrenaline's Montreal and Vancouver locations will remain open.

Those difficulties, Nixon says, emerged at least in part from a wave of new tattoo artists setting up shop after the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists he says lack training and, in some cases, are not getting city licences.

"A lot of people through boredom, picked up machines, picked up needles and all of a sudden decided to designate themselves tattoo artists or piercers at the peril of the rest of the indust

See Full Page