Woman follows passion to open tattoo cafe in Peoria
PEORIA, AZ (AZFamily) — A Peoria business offers a new way to get tattooed while enjoying delicious coffee drinks and food in a comfortable environment.
808 Social Tattoo Cafe recently opened near 67th and Olive Avenues.
The shop is in one space with doors on both the tattoo and cafe side. A single glass wall separates both sides, making it easy for customers to walk between the tattoo shop and the cafe.
“It’s different here as far as like the tattoo shops around here,” said Charis Browne, owner of 808 Social Tattoo Cafe. “It’s a lot more like calm over here and comfortable.”
“Sometimes, they (customers) might come and they’re rushing to their appointment. They don’t get to eat, which is why we have the cafe here… Then we have people that just come for coffee, and while they’re drinking coffee or studying or doing whatever they are, they can actually look over and watch people get tattooed,” said Browne.
Customers can enjoy delicious coffees, lemonades, and energy drinks inspired and made with ingredients from the Islands of Hawaii.
Examples include a P.O.G. (passion, orange, guava lemonade), blue Hawaii lemonade, a Ubelicious Frappe—a blended drink with ube and coffee, cold brews, Hawaiian cream sodas and Lotus energy drinks, which are natural energy drinks with Hawaiian flavors.
808 Social Tattoo Cafe also uses coffee from Hawaii in their drinks.
There is also a variety of food items to try, like spam musubi, burritos, avocado toast, English muffins with lilikoi butter, and breakfast sandwiches made with bacon, egg and cheese on a Hawaiian sweet roll, bagel or English muffin.
Browne is originally from Ewa Beach on the Island of Oahu, where she owned and operated a tattoo shop for eight years. She says tattoo cafes are gaining popularity in Hawaii and wanted to bring this concept to Arizona.
She moved to Peoria in 2020 and opened 808 Social AZ, a coffee shop near 85th and Peoria avenues.
In Sept. 2023, she opened the tattoo shop and hosted a tattoo fundraiser for victims of the Lahaiana wildfires. The cafe side officially opened this July, turning the place into a tattoo cafe.
Browne says tattoos have always been a passion of hers. They’re part of her Hawaiian culture, and she wanted to share it with Arizona. She says the shop has a rotating guest spot where they get tattoo artists from Hawaii to work in the shop.
Besides tattoos, 808 Social Tattoo Cafe shares another part of Hawaiian culture: the aloha spirit.
“Our businesses are based on Aloha. We thrive on that and I feel like that’s just what the mainland needs is just Aloha, love and culture and just being friendly,” said Browne. “We have so many people that come in every day and those people become friends, and then overtime they come family.”
In addition to her businesses, Browne organizes events that continue to share Hawaiian culture with the West Valley community, such as the Mele Kalikimaka Market, May Day and Poke Festival. These events include food and shopping vendors and cultural performances.
808 Social Tattoo Cafe
Location: 6750 W Olive Ave #105, Peoria, AZ 85345
Hours:
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Closed: Wednesday and Sunday
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