"I was nothing... I was a criminal, I was a bad guy, and I'm here. I got past it, I overcame it. Anybody can—it's just a matter of if they want to, that's it. Everything is a choice", said Chris Walls, Owner of For the Love of Ink Tattoos & Body Piercing located at 47 S South Street in downtown Wilmington, Ohio (across from the Clinton County Courthouse).
Chris was born in Wilmington where his grandparents on his mom's side owned a wrecking yard in Lumberton and his grandfather on his dad's side was a pastor in Clarksville before starting an antique shop in Reesville. At age 7, Chris' parents got divorced and shortly thereafter he moved with his mom to Sydney, Ohio. "I had a rough upbringing", said Chris, who at age 12 got sent to Juvenile Detention. Chris got his first tattoo at age 13 from a biker nicknamed 'Bear'. Then, at age 14, Chris dropped out of school and got a work permit to work full-time at a skating rink where he worked from ages 11 to 15 before leaving with a traveling carnival to Florida.
At age 17, Chris came back to Wilmington where he, "got a girl pregnant". The two of them (along with her mother) moved to Phoenix, Arizona to live with her grandmother. By that time Chris was already covered in tattoos, so the local skating rink wouldn't hire him. Instead, he went to work for a telemarketing company selling light bulbs, household cleaner, and other items. "I had no idea I could even talk to people", said Chris. "[But] for the first time in my life I found something I was good at other than roller skating". The company recognized Chris' sales skill and promoted him to manager and then to door-to-door sales.
One day, while Chris was selling to employees of a car lot, the manager of the car lot walked out, and when he found out that Chris had sold to all of his employees, he offered Chris a job on the spot. However, because Chris was still under the age of 18, he put Chris through school until Chris was old enough to sell cars.
At age 19, Chris moved back to Sydney where he again could not find a job because of his age, so he became a criminal. He started robbing people and getting into alcohol. This ended with Chris being convicted of a violent felony and separating from his wife-at-the-time.
When Chris got out of jail in 1999, Chris said, "I made the conscious decision that I was never going back. I was tired of hurting people." One of Chris' friends let Chris stay with him and started taking Chris to church where Chris met his now-wife, Amy. Chris saw her one day and told his friend, "that's the kind of chick I could spend the rest of my life with", to which his friend replied, "that's pastor's daughter, she's off limits." However, a month later the two were together. Chris and Amy started living in a camper at a resort where Chris got a telemarketing job, and then later relocated back to Wilmington when the company consolidated their operations.
Having entrepreneurship in his blood from his grandparents, Chris eventually got the itch to start his own business and opened a thrift store. Unfortunately, this was around the time DHL left Wilmington in 2009, and people stopped spending money, so Chris started doing whatever legal thing he could to make money, including selling hot dogs, making candles, and tattooing on the side—which he had done on and off since he was a child.
Eventually, Chris opened his first tattoo shop on Mulberry where State Farm currently is, and later also rented the space where The Banned Book Nook currently is in order to keep out an adult novelty store. "Since day one of opening this business I have worked to get rid of the negative stereotypes of [tattoo shops], that's why we allow kids here. We don't tattoo kids, but we allow people to bring their families. We want this to be a family thing", said Chris.
Despite this, Chris later experienced some community backlash after he expressed plans to move his tattoo shop to the yellow building on the corner of Wood and Locust. According to Chris, a small group of neighbors started a 'God Hates Tattoos Club' and complained at City Council that they "didn't want those kinds of people" in their neighborhood. Ironically, Chris and Amy already lived just a few doors down from the property.
Looking back, Chris views the experience as a blessing because Hope House Women's Shelter was able to use the building for a time and he was able to find the building where they are located now, which has better parking. The building was owned by Bill Marine, who Chris talked into a 5-year land contract after thieves stole the HVAC system from the roof (in broad daylight) causing $60,000 in damage. "People who worked at the courthouse told me they seen them doing it but thought they were just workers", said Chris. Since buying the building, Chris and his friends have slowly restored it to the family-focused tattoo shop he dreamed about—and Chris has even grown in his ability to make peace with the occasional community critic.
Chris says two of his most meaningful tattoos are: 1) the Black Eyed Peas 'Where is the Love?' anti-discrimination symbol, and; 2) one that says "$2.40", which is all the money his dad had in his pocket when he passed away, as a constant remind for Chris to do a better job taking care of his own kids when he is gone.
Hear Chris' full story on episode #046 of our podcast on your favorite podcast player. Learn more at fb.com/FortheLoveofInkTattoosandBodyPiercing.
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