For the past decade, Marked Tattoos, which is a full-service tattoo and body piercing shop, has been the go-to business for Marion County residents and the surrounding area to express themselves through body art.
Owner and operator Mark Carithers got his start in 1996 in Brookhaven after receiving instruction from two Illinois artists, Larry Stephenson and Ken Grow. He had been a mechanic at the Chevrolet dealership in Brookhaven when he jumpstarted his tattoo artist career even though it had never really been a desire for him.
“I had worked at very hard manual labor jobs most of my life, but when the opportunity presented itself for me to be taught how to tattoo I jumped at the chance,” he said. “This (tattoo gun) is lighter than a shovel.”
He opened his first shop in August ‘96 and was there until 2010 when he moved to Columbia and opened Marked Tattoos (previously Twist of Fate) at 714 Main St. The building previously housed Media3, so Carithers had to construct his shop from scratch to suit what he needed.
Carithers said he doesn’t have a particular niche when it comes to his tattoo art because he likes being able to have the freedom and ability to do anything a customer wants.
“I would rather be good at everything than one thing,” he said. “I do all kind of stuff from one extreme to the other.”
But one of his favorites is doing cover-ups because he likes being able to help people cover up their mistakes or bad memories and turn it into a positive.
One of his customers, Sean Pierce, who has gotten his tattoos exclusively from Carithers for 24 years, said he likes Carithers’ personality and that he comes from Brookhaven just for him. Carithers said he enjoys interacting with his customers more than anything, and he’s been tattooing people who come from all over the state for more than 20 years.
“People come in and you won’t know them from Adam, but by the time they leave they’ve done told you their entire life story,” he said. “They just open up to you, so it’s really like I’m a tattoo artist/psychologist. You get to hear some interesting things.”
Marked Tattoos stocks a wide variety of piercing jewelry with hundreds of navel and nose rings, and Carithers said he does all piercings from the waist up. He said up until the pandemic, he does more nose piercings than anything else.
The shop was closed for two months at the start of the coronavirus pandemic by executive order, which was difficult for Carithers with the bills not stopping. He stayed busy, though, assisting with tornado relief in Bassfield and Collins in mid-April.
“The really cool part was when I would get through helping them over there, when I’d open my back door money would fall out. People knew I wasn’t working and would come by and drop money in back door so I could make it. That was really, really cool. When we were shut down, I had no income. But I guess when you do good, the good comes back to you.”
When the shop finally reopened, Carithers said he has stayed very busy despite being appointment only.
The shop’s Facebook page is the best way to get in touch with Marked Tattoos to make appointments and get quotes, according to Carithers. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon until 6 p.m. and can also be reached at (601) 633-0784.
Carithers said he appreciates his customer base’s business and that he’s thankful to be able to get it.
