West Coast Ink Issue 6 - 2016 | Page 8

LIFESTYLE PAUL SCOT THORNE photography: STEPHEN RICHTER Today we caught up with Paul Scotthorne, tattoo enthusiast and owner of Party Crasher’s - the party experts. At 6’5” and 375lbs he certainly fits the name everyone calls him, “Big Paul”. Tell us a bit about your business Paul. How did you get started? Party crashers was born in August of 2010. After 15 years owning Buck or Two dollar store in Can West Mall, we decided we wanted to leave the franchise structure and build our own identity. With years of listening to customer requests as well as watching what was moving consistently through our tills, we knew it was time to give the customers what they wanted; a 8 | WESTCOASTINKMAG.COM party and event retail store that catered to their specific requests and kept up with latest trends and fads. Tell us your thoughts on tattoos in a professional setting, not only as a business owner with tattoos, but as an employee with tattoos as well. I have always thought that tattoos in the workplace are a great display of unique personalities and individualism. I won’t go as far as saying I would be in favor of seeing a heavily tattooed, “biker-style” middle aged woman, serve me at the grocery store, but it is getting to be much more tolerated by society for sure. I bet if you took a survey of the staff at Costco in Langford, you would find that more than 70% have tattoo. I doubt many customers would even bat and eye at it either because once again tattoos are accepted by most people in the 21st century! We are also seeing a large amount of visible ink displayed on law enforcement as