New tattoo studio, head shop, open in Atrium

A shop has opened in the Atrium offering custom tattoos and head shop items.

Owner Memory Spencer and licensed tattoo artist Dylan decided to name the new shop Havre DMs.

"I thought it was super funny if we could go, 'Hey, if you are itching for some ink, slide on down to your local DMs," Spencer said. "And then, who's not going to remember that, you know?"

Spencer said she had gone through treatment at White Sky Hope Treatment Center on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, then got her degrees at Stone Child College. She then worked White Sky Hope for six years. She said she was closing in on becoming a licensed addiction counselor and was 25 percent through her required hours of residency to get her own LAC license.

Dylan also ended up working at Rocky Boy, doing construction on elder housing for the last year.

"And we just took a left turn one day, and here we are," Spencer said.

The shop also has two other workers, licensed apprentice tattoo artist Klayton Waters, who comes in from Malta to work at Havre DMs, and Tyler Griffith, who helps Spencer in the shop, and the shop dog.

"She get's more attention than we do," Dylan said.

"She definitely wants to be in the picture," Spencer said, adding that Clyde is very well-behaved and well-trained.

She said they had a cat, a bob-tailed Manx that likes to jump around, so they named the cat Bunny.

"And so, then when we get her, I was, like, well, we've got to have 'Bunny and Clyde.' And so that's how she got her name," Spencer said.

She said she sells-top end accessories and "geek bars" and the vapes, which Spencer said she tries to keep very reasonably priced.

For example, she said, she has a top-end water pipe that sells for $180 but generally would retail at $300 at most shops.

She said they have a privacy curtain to separate the tattoo area from the shop if needed, and she is planning on adding a second powered chair.

That could allow events where people could book the studio and have multiple people in to get tattoos, with two people being worked on at once.

"And it's just like a tattooing party," she said.

Dylan said he is keeping a very clean, professional shop, where people can come in and be comfortable.

Spencer said she believes receiving a tattoo and shopping in a good environment can be like therapy.

"You know, I'm a healer, and it was hard for me to quit being a counselor, but I come here and I heal them in the right way, with therapy," she said.

"When it's running functionally and running right, and everybody's happy, it's like a counselors office," Dylan said. "People come in moody and they leave happy."

Spencer said they are very happy to be in The Atrium, and downtown, with new businesses opening up in and out of the mall and more coming in.

"We're just excited," she said. "Downtown is coming back."

"You can just feel it in the community," Spencer said.

Spencer said they are working to include the community, including their friends and associates at Rocky Boy.

She said during the craft show held last month, they gave $2,000 worth of beads - they buy all of their beadwork from Montana State Prison - to a family from the tribe to sell at a table outside the shop, who kept the money from the sales.

"And that was just our way to say thank you to the tribe, thank you to the Navies for supporting us.

They are extending a welcome to everyone.

"I think the community is really going to feel at home here," Griffith said.

Dylan said he wants people to feel at home in the shop.

"I'd rather have people leave happy and come back," he said.