Three businesses in Las Vegas, including West Coast Tattoo Parlor, have been without power for weeks and are frustrated by the lack of response from their landlord about when it will be restored.
Frank DiMaggio, co-owner of West Coast Tattoo Parlor, said the electricity went out for the entire business complex at 2 p.m. on May 4. Despite the outage, his tattoo artists found creative ways to continue working.
“Our guys used headlamps,” DiMaggio said. “They pulled their motorcycles up to the front and turned them on to light up the building so they could finish their tattoos for our clients.”
Inspectors from Nevada Energy found that the main breaker, which powers three businesses in the commercial complex Vegas Pointe Plaza, was blown. It would require more than a reset to fix and needed to be replaced. The last service date for the now defunct Siemens power supply unit was November 10, 1993.
DiMaggio was shocked to discover that their landlord had not serviced the equipment for 31 years and immediately requested power to be restored.
“We were told it would take a couple of days to get a new breaker,” he said.
However, 16 days have passed without any power for West Coast Tattoo Parlor, 6789 Beauty Bar, and Ocean City Massage Spa. Business owners are demanding answers.
“We’re hemorrhaging,” DiMaggio said. “People are losing their income 100% while the property owner is trying to save a couple of grand. We’re losing out every day.”
8 News Now reached out to the property owner and manager of Vegas Pointe Plaza via email and phone but received no response.
No Power, No Rent
Two days after the initial outage, the property manager informed Valerie DiMaggio, co-owner of West Coast Tattoo Parlor, that it would cost $30,000 to fix the unit. Valerie told the property manager that according to her tenant rights, they could not be expected to pay rent due to alleged negligence.
“We have thousands of dollars in damages each day,” she said. “We still have to pay all the bills, and we are going to our landlord who will do nothing to help us.”
The property manager allegedly told Valerie they had no right to withhold rent and threatened to submit an eviction notice. Days later, a new property manager reached out.
“She told us, ‘Oh, you’re going to be able to get back into business tomorrow,’” Valerie said. “And like an idiot, I believed her.”
On May 14, the owners and employees of West Coast Tattoo Parlor brought all their supplies and heavy equipment back to the business, assured by the new property manager that power would be restored. However, the unit was still not fixed.
“We moved everything back and were dripping with sweat,” DiMaggio said. “Then we’re told, ‘Oh, well, probably wait another month.’”
DiMaggio said being closed during the Electric Daisy Carnival significantly impacted their profits for this quarter. He reminded customers that they can still visit their second location near South Rainbow and Russell.
“We’ll continue to go out of our way to accommodate all of our customers,” Frank said. “If they want their piercings or tattoos done, we’ll take care of them, even if we have to bring in extra people.”
Justin Nolan, a tattoo artist at West Coast Tattoo Parlor, said the lack of business at the Las Vegas Boulevard location has a lasting effect on Valerie and Frank DiMaggio.
“I can’t wait for this one to open back up,” he said. “But we don’t know if that’s going to happen.”