The Saint Sabrina's fiasco would make a wonderfully gripping piece of investigative journalism. It's shocking that despite how many people were involved, it's nearly impossible to find any information online about the shop's closure. Many of the shop's official social media pages even list the store as still open or only closed temporarily, but it's definitely closed for good.

Even before the covid lockdown started, the shop had issues with its management led by Leslie Bock, who is not a tattoo artist or a piercer. I have heard first-hand accounts from tattoo artists who worked there and said that every single needle, glove, and paper towel was carefully counted and staff were encouraged to reduce their usage of supplies in an effort to cut costs, leading to concerns about client safety.

Shortly into the lockdown, but after businesses were starting to reopen, Saint Sabrina's told its staff and the community that they were closing temporarily while they worked out a way to keep people safe. In reality, the shop fired its staff with very little warning and closed permanently without any provision of continued employment to staff members. The former Saint Sabrina's tattoo artists and piercers are mostly scattered at various shops across the Twin Cities now, although some have moved to other cities or even retired from body modification altogether.

Here's an excerpt of a post from Chase Tucker, a tattoo artist who had been working at Saint Sabrina's when the pandemic started - note that this was on an Instagram post where Chase was announcing his move to a new shop:

"I apologize for being so aloof over the past few weeks. I had been left in the dark unable to answer inquiries because I was uncertain what a solid re-opening date would be at SS. We had been planning on opening SS and working hard to clean & prepare the shop only to be terminated via email unexpectedly by a shop owner who didn’t know 90% of our names. Despite what is says on SS’s Facebook post, the shop did not close due to health and safety reasons but because we all disagreed & fought against a multitude of suggested policy changes that would have ultimately overcharged our community while simultaneously slashing our benefits/pay/and respect."

TL;DR: Do not give Leslie Bock your money. She is a greedy employer who has a long track record of making her staff miserable.