Photography by Kathy Tran
Linda Bishop doesn’t slow down. A career tattoo artist, she’s built up a mini-empire on the corner of Main Street, combining four completely different brands all under the same roof.
Bishop, who goes by “Little Linda” for her art, grew up in California, then worked as a tattoo artist in Miami before landing at Elm Street Tattoo in the early 2010s. She’s highly sought after in the industry, amassing 175,000 Instagram followers and being featured in tattoo magazines, Savage and Inked.
“I kind of developed my own style,” she says. “People say it looks like etching or topographic maps. I hear all different things, but I couldn’t really describe it at all.”
The style she developed wasn’t just visual. After growing up working at different tattoo shops, she started noticing aesthetic and cultural trends that she wanted to change.
“My initial concept was really just to create an environment for my customers that was different from anything else they had been exposed to,” she says. “I thought, what can I do to create an environment that everybody vibes with and feels really comfortable?”
In 2017, she leased out a spot on the side of an aging red brick building, with an estimated market value of $24,270 and transformed it into Koneko Studio. She created the space just like her vision, a presentably posh tattoo shop, whose name translates to “kitten” in Japanese.
“I wanted to have this openness, calming, almost like a spa vibe but a tattoo shop,” she says. “That was the first approach. Then of course, providing an atmosphere that was super clean and wasn’t so overwhelming.”
Koneko quickly became one of the city’s most popular tattoo destinations, but for reasons beyond the ink. Bishop felt like she could expand the Koneko brand beyond just tattoos and still be successful.
“If people are coming here and they love this experience,” Bishop explains. “It was almost like they wanted more things, like ‘what else can I do here? What else do you guys do here so I can come back?’”
Koneko answered the call, opening a small beauty salon in the back.
“I had some girlfriends that did cosmetic tattooing or esthetician services,” she says. “They were working in Koneko studio for a short period of time until we did the expansion.”
The salon side of Koneko Studio has been open for five years now, offering facials, hair services, lashes, nails and waxing. Their signature KonekoFacial is a 90-minute massage and personalized skin treatment for $245.
Adding yet again, Bishop set up a small pop-up table outside of Koneko Studio.
“My husband and I had been selling vintage since probably 2010,” Bishop says. “We did private sales to individuals and we sold oddities. It was really fun.”
In 2022, she opened Hey Koneko inside a vacant space next door in Suite 110. Koneko Studio is in 140.
“When this became available, I just took it.”
The interior is a beautiful olive green, with a collection of western-inspired jewelry and high-end vintage t-shirts.
Eight months ago, at the far left inside of Hey Koneko, Bishop installed her latest addition.
“Whenever we’re in Europe or Mexico City, I love that you go into a little boutique and it has some of the best coffee you’ve ever had,” she explains. “That’s what I want. I want to put the best coffee in some little spot that nobody knows about.”
Bishop couldn’t help herself. She opened Good Boy Cafe on the far left side of Hey Koneko, offering all types of espresso beverages, cookies and a collection of puppy art. Inside a vintage store named after kittens, it’s an obvious irony. Bishop’s own dog, Suki, is a popular fixture at Koneko Studio on weekends.
“I never took out a business loan, I never had a business partner,” Bishop says proudly. “I’ve done everything on my own with all of the money that I’ve saved.”
Between tattoos, beauty salons, vintage clothing and coffee; if Linda Bishop likes it, she’s going to create it.
“I’ll never feel satisfied,” she says.
