TORRINGTON – Torrington residents looking for some ink will now have to look no further than 310 East Valley Road where BadDreams & Robots opened for business on Nov. 3.
Sean Pettus moved to Torrington from Cody in July to open a tattoo and body piercing shop. Pettus’ business is Torrington’s only tattoo shop right now, and the community has been supportive, he said.
“We’ve met a lot of really cool people, everybody wants to help,” Pettus said. “This community is very tight-knit. I’ve never had this kind of support anywhere.”
Tattoo artist Cody Polvado is also new to the community, from North Carolina. He and Pettus said opening during the coronavirus pandemic has been difficult when it comes to public health orders and potential patrons avoiding too much time out in public.
Pettus and Polvado, however, have been careful. They said tattoo shops are safe places to be during the pandemic, because of the strict hygiene standards they have to meet given the nature of the work, even before COVID-19.
The two clean and sanitize the shop daily to prevent the spread, according to the shop’s Facebook page.
“We do the extras,” Pettus said. “We’re super clean.”
The shop offers, of course, tattoos, in addition to cover-ups and removal as well as body piercings. Despite the name with a dark undertone, the shop is family-friendly, Pettus and Povaldo said.
The shop also donates 10% of proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“We’d like to get in touch with and do a little more local volunteer work,” Pettus said. “We truly believe in giving back to communities, to our
community, especially.”
For those wondering about the shop’s name, BadDreams & Robots, Povaldo was, too. According to Pettus, it’s a nod to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984.
“It’s the idea that nobody has emotions or their own feelings,” he said. “The idea kind of stuck some years ago.”
Visit the shop’s website, BadDreamsRobots.com, or their Facebook page, BadDreams & Robots, for more information.
