Tattoo Shops With Identical Names Cause Confusion

April 24th, 2009 · No Comments

Watertown Body Piercing Shop Manager: Shop Losing Business From Mistaken Identity
By Christine Laubenstein
Published : April 14, 2009

WATERTOWN, MA – Since news broke earlier this month that Almoda Jewelry in Danvers had to be temporarily closed for illegally performing body piercings, the Watertown business by the same name has seen a large drop in business.

“We haven’t even been piercing a third as much as we usually do,” said Kamel Lamtougui, store manager and licensed body piercer. “We’ve had people come in the store and leave the store when they realized it’s Almoda.”

They automatically assume the Arsenal Mall shop is connected to the one in Danvers, which isn’t the case, he said.

Also, they assume the Watertown shop similarly doesn’t have a body piercing license, which also isn’t the case. It’s had one for 15 or 20 years, he said.

Not only that, he said, the business has had no problems with the Watertown Health Department, he said.

Chief Environmental Health Officer Kristel Bennett could not be reached late Tuesday afternoon for confirmation.

A health department employee said anonymously that Almoda Jewelry in Watertown has always worked well with the health department.

News reports about the Danvers business have emphasized how unregulated body piercing operations are more likely to spread blood-borne pathogens like hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, Lamtougui said.

“People are just getting scared,” he said of people avoiding the Watertown business.

Lamtougui said he’s been licensed to perform body piercings at his store the last nine years.

His business is no longer affiliated with the one in Danvers, he said, and that the illegal activity in the Danvers business only started after the two stopped being affiliated.

Up until a couple of months ago George Helo, who owns Almoda Jewelry in Watertown, was a partner with the Almoda Jewelry in Danvers, Lamtougui said.

Helo sold his share of the business, Lamtougui said, and then the illegal piercing started up.

Helo couldn’t be reached for comment because he is out of the country until Monday spending time with family, Lamtougui said.

“He’s very stressed about it,” Lamtougui said of the bad attention the Watertown shop is getting.

Lamtougui said a man named Tony is the one who began body piercing in Danvers without a permit. He didn’t know his last name.

An April 9 Danvers Herald article said the store’s owner is Toni Daaboul.

Early Tuesday evening neither a Tony nor a Toni could be reached at the Danvers store, which is back open for ear piercings and jewelry sales.

A woman who didn’t speak English very well said she was all alone at the business, and couldn’t comment.

Danvers Health Inspector Mark Carleo couldn’t be reached at his office early Tuesday evening to offer thoughts on Lamtougui’s assertion that the two Almoda Jewelry locations are no longer connected.

Or Lamtougui’s assertion that the illegal activity started after the two stopped being connected.

In an April 3 Salem News article Carleo said he didn’t know how long the illegal activity had been going on for.

Lamtougui said once Helo returns Helo will go to Almoda Jewelry in Danvers and make the business change its name.
“It should have done that already,” he said.

“When the owner comes down on Monday he is going to start with that,” Lamtougui said. “But the damage is already done.“

Source : Wicked Local