Sandpoint Tattoo set to reopen
(Courtesy photo)Michelle Eagan of Sandpoint Tattoo is reopening her tattoo shop on Tuesday, about three months after a devastating fire in downtown Sandpoint destroyed two buildings housing her shop and four other businesses. A third building was heavily damaged in the fire.
SANDPOINT — One by one, businesses affected by February’s devastating fire in downtown Sandpoint have found new homes. Tuesday, Sandpoint Tattoo will join them.
“Great news,” Michelle Eagan reported on the shop’s Facebook page this past week. “We finally found a new location.”
The new location is near the old shop, located between A&P’s and the Sandcreek Salon on the back side, Eagan said in the post. While the shop is still looking for a few items — a desk, tables, floor rugs and small appliances, Eagan said Sandpoint Tattoo will reopen at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 14.
Sandpoint Tattoo was one of five businesses lost in the Feb. 11 fire which destroyed two buildings and heavily damaged a third, which housed the Grace Sandpoint Church. Of the other businesses lost in the fire — Headlines Salon, The Chocolate Bear, and The Hound and The China Kitchen restaurants — two have announced new locations.
Kimberly Bond of Headlines Salon posted to the salon’s Facebook shortly after the fire that she would be working from Highlands Salon, 1352 Highway 2 in Sandpoint. The Chocolate Bear announced on their Facebook page they would be temporarily moving their production facility to their Spokane location until the Sandpoint could be rebuilt.
Crews recently demolished most of the two buildings, which some of the work taking place shortly after the fire for safety reasons and the rest taking place this past week.
Idaho Fire Marshal’s officials ruled in mid-April that the fire was accidental but did not pinpoint a cause at that time. They concluded the point of origin of the fire was along the wall between Chocolate Bear and Ol’ Red’s in the second building, 204 N. First Ave.