Citing rents that are too high for his business, the owner of tattoo parlor said he plans to shut down his Kings Park storefront after almost a decade on Main Street.
“I don’t want to leave. I live here,” said Steve Gagliano, who lives in San Remo.
He said he will focus on his second location at 2090 Jericho Turnpike in East Northport.
He estimated he will be saving at least $2,500 per month by leaving his Kings Park storefront, where his last rent bill was $1,874.43, a figure he said was set to increase again in January.
While rent at the second location is a bit higher, he said he has about double the space there as he has in Kings Park. It is also situated on a main road, making it easier for his customers to find.
Other problems associated with the Kings Park downtown also forced his hand. Gagliano pointed to a sign on the corner that lights up hours after nightfall, making it harder for customers to find the place. At the same time, smells from the Subway sandwich shop next door creep into his shop, sometimes to a “nauseating” extent, he said.
Gagliano said he has tried to resolve the issues with his landlord, Bart Galetta of Commack, but has been unable and is in a legal battle with him.
Galetta could not be reached for comment.
Gagliano said he received some skepticism from local residents over having a tattoo parlor in town when he opened at 54 Main Street in May of 2002, but that the doubts gave way to acceptance.
“I’ve tried to contribute,” he said, making donations and giving gift certificates to different school and church groups. He said his staff is far from the stereotypical image that people might assume when thinking of a tattoo parlor.
"Most of us are graphic designers that just changed careers," he said.
Kings Park Civic Association president Sean Lehmann said Gagliano recently volunteered to design the group’s logo for its new website.
“It’s a shame that another business is leaving Kings Park,” Lehmann said.
Gagliano’s departure will leave two of four rental spaces unoccupied at the site, the other left vacant when earlier this year. Subway and a dry cleaners shop will remain.
The space he has rented was vacant when he moved in, Gagliano said, and had been a window treatment store before that.
Gagliano said he would like to return to Kings Park, but in the wake of his experience renting, would only be willing if he were able to buy the building he would run out of.
“There’s enough stresses in life,” he said.
