Wilmington is home to many one-of-a-kinds, and since last year the town has been home to a bookstore with a tattoo parlor. Sarah Peacock, former owner of Jade Monkey Studios, set up a tattoo shop in Rebel Books in the summer of 2005.

Shawna Kenney met Peacock while doing a profile on her in the local “Currents” magazine. In May of 2005, Kenney and husband Rich Dolinger opened Rebel Books and initially had intentions to use the back room of the store as an art gallery. The room got very little use until Peacock offered to use the space to open a tattoo parlor.

Unlike most tattoo parlors, waiting customers can browse the selection of books and listen to poetry readings at night. Likewise, bookstore customers may take the time to look through Peacock’s extensive artwork portfolios.

“Some of her clients otherwise would never be exposed to the bookstore and some of our customers end up making appointments with her,” Kenney said.

Peacock was born and raised in Yorkshire, England and has been “getting inked” since 1987. Originally, she didn’t want to be a tattoo artist, but her interest in tattooing was sparked in 1995 when she said, “I met a tattoo artist that I respected.”

Peacock initially worked at Tattoo Asylum in Durham, N.C. where her specialties included large tattoos such as body suits. She also specializes in Japanese-style works, portraits and super-realism pieces.

Peacock is a well-known tattoo artist with numerous awards, magazine articles and traveling exhibits including the Tattoo Baby Doll Project (www.daintytime.com). Of her numerous awards, Peacock is most proud of her Best Sleeve Award at The Richmond Tattoo Convention two years ago.

Kenney considers Peacock an amazing painter, creative person and strong business partner, adding that Peacock owned Jade Monkey Studios for several years.

In her most recent exhibit, Peacock’s paintings were exhibited at Port City Java on 21 N. Front Street and she is looking into a future collection to be displayed in town.

Peacock said she enjoys the stress-free setting inside her own shop and added that her clients feel the same way. Due to her success, the shop is regularly booked three months in advance.

She feels that the experience of getting the tattoo and the tattoo itself are linked. “If you go and have a rotten experience getting the tattoo you’re never going to look at the tattoo in the same way.”

Peacock thinks that tattooing is becoming a part of pop-culture, reflecting on the rise in tattoo-based TV series and the comfort of talking about tattoos. She considers it more of a lifestyle than typical jobs and finds it odd that many tattoo artists are not heavily tattooed. To Peacock, “If you are tattooing an elbow, for example, you’ve had your elbow tattooed, so you know how it feels.”

Kenney and Peacock enjoy the atmosphere inside the shop. “It just adds another interesting dimension and there aren’t many bookstore/tattoo shops,” Kenney said. “It’s a way for more like-minded people to congregate.”