In a room filled with bicycles, display cases and skateboards mounted on the wall Randy Sledge locks a wooden cash drawer as Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" blares from a nearby desktop computer.
At first glance you may think you're in a bike shop, but the black leather dentist chair in the back of the room means there's much more offered than tire and chain repairs.
Sledge owns Metals Edge Expo, a tattoo, bicycle and skate shop on East First Street in Maryville along with his wife, Stephanie. The couple opened the shop in 2003 after purchasing Crank & Pedal, a long time Maryville bike store.
"We first started out as a tattoo and piercing shop and at that time we decided that we would incorporate skateboards," Stephanie said.
Bells give a weak jingle as the front door opens.
Customers boasting all types of interests make their way into the shop on a daily basis. Some have bikes and no tattoos, others tattoos and no bikes, then there are those who have both.
As convenient as it may be to have the many options offered at the store, running Metals Edge is no easy task.
"It is kind of difficult to incorporate some of the market sometimes," Stephanie said sipping a cup of coffee.
"The tattooing side of the business is really personal; the majority of our business that get tattoos usually get tattoos for a sentimental reason or a memorial, something that means something to them.
"You have to separate the tattooing."
The primary tattoo artist at the shop, Randy use to have a career as a chef at several different restaurants. His recipes once consisted of oil and seasonings, but today his ingredients include ink and human skin.
Becoming a tattoo artist was always an aspiration.
"At that time, there was no discussion about doing all this but it was always in the background," Randy said.
Requests are currently high for barbwire tattoos, but before work even begins, Randy talks things over with the customer going over the design and location of the tattoo. Most importantly, he says, the discussion includes the question, "Are you going to be happy with this in 20 years?"
Starting the business was not easy. Stephanie was studying business management a Northwest while working full time at the shop and Randy worked full time at Federal-Mogual during the day and ran the shop at night.
They weren't strangers to the business ownership world; Randy and Stephanie owned a coffee shop in Boone, Iowa before moving to Maryville.
"We opened our business with not very much money," Stephanie said. "We just kept working at it where Randy could come and work full time. It gets stressful at times, you just have to keep going back to the drawing board, keep coming up with strategies to work through it."
Both Randy and Stephanie work full-time now, but given the current status of the national economy, they still have their troubles, especially in summer when Northwest students leave and in the winter season when bike riding is low.
"Our business is still struggling," Stephanie said. "We're working on ideas, trying to expand, we've got the business plan finished and we're working on that right now."
Despite hard times on a national level, the Sledges still enjoy their business and its growth.
With big smiles, Randy and Stephanie turn and look at each other.
"We love what we do," Stephanie said. "We love selling bikes."
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