Hardwire Tattoo & Body Piercing Studio

Just like all my sisters, I decided to put a few holes in my face as soon as I turned 18. Besides the freshman year incident when I ripped out the ring, I have never removed my eyebrow piercing. Monday my face bling fell out in the shower and I kept forgetting to stop and pick up a replacement. I finally remembered when I was getting pie next door.
I have been a customer of Hardwire for years. I have had two tattoos and nine piercings done here since 2007. Nothing special about this tattoo shop but I like it. I walked in and asked the girl at the counter to see the eyebrow rings. She showed me one option and I bought it. Big mistake this ring is a lot bigger than the old one and sticks out from my face. It was ten dollars which I wouldn’t have minded paying if I liked the ring but it looks so bad I am going to have to buy a new one somewhere else.
Normally I would give this business a four but I need appropriate decoration for the holes in my face.

I walked in without an appointment after driving about an hour from Myrtle Beach. If you’re in Wilmington, go see Will at Hardwire because he’s so many kinds of legit and will treat ya right. He gave me a beautiful cover-​up that I absolutely love! I showed up with a horrible bull tattoo, and Will turned it into a gnarley hibiscus. He was really nice and great to work with. The price was great and the art is better.

I got the owner Justin. He was awesome! Great artist since I wanted something not in the books. The entire staff is friendly, very knowledgeable and just the best. Did it hurt? Of course! It’s a needle! Even the best (Justin!!!) can’t make it not hurt… he did keep me occupied by talking to me. This is a 5 star establishment.
My husband is getting a detailed military tattoo by Will and he is taking great care of John.
Want a tattoo? In Wilmington? Come to this place!

I went with my mom to get tattoos recently. We went in the afternoon on a Friday so we got right in. My artist, Mike, was great and I’m very happy with my tattoo. He kept the review at three rather than one or two.
That’s because my mom’s artist, Syd, was a bit of a jerk. We aren’t avid tattoo getters and he treated us like we weren’t worth his time with our simple little designs. When my mom first showed him the design she drew, he simply said «no». After an awkward silence he explained that he wouldn’t do a tattoo that small. He didn’t really offer up a solution. After being told to «pick it up a little bit» when walking back to look at his drawing and then getting more attitude when we didn’t really like his new design, they finally came to an agreement. Honestly, we wouldn’t have stayed if I wasn’t already in the process of getting my tattoo with Mike.
If he’s going to be at the most visible tattoo parlor downtown, he may want to get used to having boring white women ask for simple tattoos and try not to scare them out of the door with his rudeness.

This is the only place my husband Jonathan and I go to for our tattoos!!! We love Phil. He is amazing and so friendly. He has a great memory, He always remembers my husband and he has a lot of clients! I would highly recommend this place. Keep up the great work!!!

Unilocaling through a friends experience, I personally did not give this place my business. However, after seeing how my friend was treated, and the quality of business this place provides I can safely say I will never do business with this place.
The shop appeared to be clean, but once you really see the place and the people that work here you feel just absolutely awkward. As a female you probably never want to step into a tattoo or piercing place and feel awkward.
Also this place apparently is a favorite of Jenelle Evans who was on Teen Mom, you know the one that gave away her child to her mother? So you can see the type of quality this place provides by her tattoos, which isn’t great quality. I’m from California and the comparison of skill from here to NC is just not comparable. Tattoos take more than an artistic eye, and by the looks of the ones coming out of Hardwire you just don’t get that here.
I highly suggest finding a much more comfortable place to get piercings or tattoos especially if your a female. There has to be much better quality of tattoos elsewhere.

i had been wanting my cartilage pierced for years but was wayyy too nervous to do so. the piercer overheard my convo with my cousin as i was walking by and gave me a price and told me i’d be done in ten minutes so i finally bit. he kept me completely calm and kept his word — i was out the door ten minutes later. didn’t even get his name! would recommend to anyone looking to get a piercing.

In my opinion, one of the most of obnoxious things is when you walk into a tattoo parlor and the staff treats you like you’re just not cool enough to be there. So I am very happy to say that that was not at all my experience when I walked into Hardwire. The lovely lady behind the counter (smoking hot smile) was very, very cool. I got my eyebrow pierced by Gooey, who was also very, very cool. My experience really couldn’t have been much better. Absolutely top notch, and highly recommended. Their excellent reputation is deserved imo

Went in to get my monroe bar changed to a shorter bar.
1. Couldn’t remove the original piercing for awhile…
2. Dropped the new one in my lap and had to get an entirely new one.
3. Couldn’t get the ball on the 2^nd new one.
4. Got the paper towel stuck in my lip and had to pour water in my mouth. Awkward.
5. Left bleeding and short $ 21.

How refreshing it is to know that once my pregnant ass is no longer with child, I will have a decent studio to get my back-​piece finished! I came in here the other day with a girlfriend of mine who was staking out a new shop to get her work done, and was pleasantly surprised with Hardwire.
This shop is huge and everyone that works here, or at least that was working this past Wednesday, is totally f-​ing rad. I HATE HATE HATE when you walk into a shop and the artists treat you like you’re retarded or invisible. Not here. These guys literally sat and shot the shit and talked tattoos with us for over an hour. They were extremely knowledgeable and professional and answered all the questions we had and more. We browsed through every artists portfolio and we both found ourselves an artist that will suit our styles. They will even draw up your idea at no charge, and seemingly can get you scheduled for a session fairly quickly, sometimes same day. My girlfriend will start her piece next week.
Although I have about 10 months before I will be able to finish the piece my late artist started back in 2002, I have found the man who will do it, who is super psyched about it just as much as I am. I love this and I am so anxious!
I also stopped in here this afternoon for a new nose stud and although I have not personally had anything pieced by their respective piercer, she was very nice in helping me find the perfect stud and let me use her mirror.
Bravo Hardwire, for proving that there are still talented friendly artists out there who aren’t complete assholes with a God complex!

The owner and staff are good people and do good work. I never get the «sketchy» feeling when going there.

My wife and I just dropped in for our first tattoos tonight. We were met at the door by the owner (we found out later) who was very personable. This was nice because we had stopped by Unique Ink in Jacksonville earlier and the people in there seemed a bit off. Justin (the owner) was great helping us figure out the details of the custom artwork my wife wanted. Mine was much simpler. The whole process was quick, easy and enjoyable (seriously). The only issue I might note is that we were asked to use the ATM and not to put it on our credit card. I understand the desire to not pay some percentage to the credit processing house but I also prefer not to use sketchy little ATMs. I could’ve pushed back but not being a tattoo «parlor» regular was not too inclined to make waves. It also helped that everybody there was extremely cool, to include the FREE adjustment the piercer made on my wife’s nose stud (she’s not nearly as «alternative» as this all sounds… well maybe a little). Anyway, if you find yourself in Wilmington in need of ink I highly recommend dropping in at Hardwire… just hit a real ATM first.

I visited Hardwire in November, 2008 for my tattoo and was so impressed. Everyone there was friendly, and the man who worked on me (Phil) was fantastic! We hit it off so well, chatted the whole time, and it made the experience go by quickly and made it enjoyable. I love my tattoo!
Today, my daughter went to Hardwire and saw Phil and got her tattoo (she just turned 18), and he was great with her. She is very happy with his work and their service.
I highly recommend Hardwire.

**UPDATED 5÷9÷08 — REDUCED TO TWO STARS**
See end of review for actual update.
For only having been inside maybe two other tattoo/​piercing places in my life (purely to look around), this one looked about the same. It was a bit smaller than I had thought it would be, but downtown Wilmington is cramped anyway. They warned us they were in the middle of a remodel (or maybe even a move?) so the place was in a little bit of disarray. This was in mid-​December 2007.
My friend and I had chosen Hardwire from rave reviews we had heard. The people there were very friendly and upon hearing that both of us were there for nipple piercings, they jokingly announced it through the whole store. It seemed like a fun atmosphere.
Appointments weren’t required, but we had called ahead to see when their piercer would be there, because apparently he isn’t there all the time. He helped us decide what jewelry we wanted and then took us back to the private room. They let us both be in the room at the same time (we wanted to take pics!) and the guy was great.
Everything was completely sterile (taken from new packages) and well-​done (from what I can tell, I mean, this was my first piercing aside from my ears 20 years ago in my aunt’s kitchen). The only thing I wasn’t thrilled with was the metal music being played VERY loudly throughout the store. I realize metal kinda goes with tattoos and piercings, but I really would have enjoyed some nice calming Enya or James Taylor, LOL.
The process went very smoothly for both of us (but WOW, was that painful — for a few seconds) and they gave us a military discount (small, but a discount nonetheless), sold us the aftercare spray, and we were on our way. Easy peasy.
Oh…note of caution on payment — although they say they take credit cards (I believe they had the Visa/​Mastercard stickers on the door), they really don’t…they have an ATM in the corner of the lobby where you can USE your credit card to get cash.
Parking is inconvenient. (Well, keep in mind this statement is coming from someone who is used to smaller towns and private parking lots for everything.) There just isn’t much street parking downtown. In fact, is there even any? There has to be parking — but I am not from the area, and it was dark when we went, and we parked in the parking garage down the street.
I am not sure why the other person only rated them one-​star. The place didn’t seem sketchy to me — but then again, maybe a few years ago it was? I also didn’t expect an extravagant, spa-​like experience. Nor have I been in a multitude of tattoo/​piercing places to compare them. But I personally see no reason whatsoever for a one-​star rating. That said, I can’t give them five-​stars because I don’t think it was fully a five-​star experience. I would do three-​and-​a-​half, but since I can’t, I am going to err on the side of caution and go with three, for the insanely loud irritating music (yes, even though that’s probably the type of music played at tattoo parlors everywhere) and not actually being able to pay with a credit card.
The big question is… would I go back? And the answer is a definitive yes.
UPDATE 5÷9÷08 — I am dropping my review to two stars because I have decided I am not happy with how my piercings were done. Meaning, they were not even — one is through the actual nipple and the second is through the skin behind the nipple. I was willing to overlook this at the beginning, because I thought «Well, it’s kinda hard to get them exactly even» but the more I talked to people, apparently other places use clamps, to more accurately position the holes… and this guy just did it freehand. Also, the piercing through the nipple has slowly been working its way out, so much so that it’s still very sore and I will likely have to remove it permanently so it doesn’t rip through the nipple itself. So I will have gone through the pain and five months of recovery for nothing.