Wright City for the first time has added “tattoo shop” to the list of legal activities in the city’s commercial areas.

The Wright City Board of Aldermen voted Oct. 28 to allow tattoo shops in the city, a change that aldermen were almost shocked to learn had not already been done.

The motivation for the change is that a group of tattoo artists from the Wright City and Wentzville areas are seeking to open a shop in town, to be called The Copper Fox Studio. But when the studio’s owners approached the city government for a business license, they learned that the city’s zoning code would be an obstacle.

The issue is that Wright City’s zoning ordinance didn’t include tattoo shops on the list of business types that are allowed in commercial areas. When it comes to zoning laws, such an omission amounts to a ban by default.

So the business owners went through the steps to get the law changed. After the aldermen approved, the co-owners shared their gratitude on the studio’s Facebook page.

“We are one step closer to being able to open and we are so appreciative to the city, the aldermen, and everyone else who has supported us,” the owners wrote.

To open their tattoo studio, the owners must also receive a license from the Missouri state agency that regulates tattoo shops and practitioners.

Wright City aldermen were unanimously in support of making the change to welcome tattoo shops.

“This is a no-brainer,” Alderman Ramiz Hakim commented through Facebook. The alderman said he doesn’t have any tattoos, but that he plans to support the new business moving to Wright City by being one of the tattoo shop’s first customers.

Wright City Mayor Michelle Heiliger said the prospect of a new type of business in town has generated nothing but excitement from the citizens she’s spoken with. No one spoke against the change to allow tattoo shops, Heiliger said.

“Honestly, there were people in the city who were kind of surprised we did not already have an ordinance allowing tattoo shops,” she said. Heiliger commented that the highly negative perception of tattoos that was once common has been disappearing. “Now it’s perceived completely different. It’s mainstream at this point.”

Since the prospective tattoo shop has become a topic of public conversation, several area residents have noted on Facebook that there have been at least two tattoo shops in Wright City in years past.

City Administrator Jim Schuchmann, who was appointed to his role in 2019, said any previous tattoo shops operating in the city would have been doing so in violation of the city code. However, he said he did not know of any time the issue was raised with the city government.

City Clerk Abbie Ogbon said her office does not have records of whether prior tattoo shops received business licenses from the city, as such licenses are only kept for a set number of years and then disposed of.