Tattoo parlors offer special deals on Friday the 13th

Friday the thirteenth may be seen as an unlucky day for many, but for local tattoo parlors it's one of the busiest days of the year.

At least a handful of Austin tattoo shops run special pricing on Friday the thirteenth.

“I've always seen it as a lucky number for me,” said Bat City Tattoo artist Levi Ruiz.

Friday the thirteenth is still lucky for Ruiz when it comes to business.

“Friday the thirteenth is basically a bad luck day. In American tradition it's always been a bad luck day, but pretty much tattooing has kind of evolved it into a positive thing,” Ruiz said.

Each Friday the thirteenth Bat City Tattoo runs a special so that more customers can walk out with some fresh ink.

“It’s $31. You get one of these items or we have another couple sets of flash that you can pick out of and you get one color for $31,” said Ruiz. 

“30 bucks for this one, compared to these were 100 something $200 dollar,” said Jesse Sanchez who got a “13” tattoo on Friday. 

In some cases the price cut is enough to convince first timers to brave the tattoo gun.

“It’s a good positive thing just to show that it's not always scary to go into a tattoo shop,” Ruiz said.  

Some Austin tattoo shops stay open extra hours to get through the line of waiting customers and ruiz said typically after Friday the thirteenth he gets a big boost in business.

“You get that itch and you want more and you want more and just got to have that ink,” said Sanchez. 

“Everybody’s looking for their nice little sale, so it's kind of like our Black Friday,” Ruiz said. 

While many opt to get the number thirteen included in their new body art for nostalgia sake, Bat City does not require that in order to get the special pricing. However, they do say customers taking advantage of the sale should expect to wait a few extra minutes because artists are typically busier than usual.

“I've gotten up to 32 in a day, but let's hope we break that record today,” said Ruiz.