Virtue & Vice

What Virtue & Vice does

Virtue & Vice is a body piercing studio founded in 1995 by Bethrah Szumski and headquartered at 2261 Cheshire Bridge Rd in Atlanta, Georgia. The company operates a direct-to-consumer service business offering professional body piercing across a wide range of anatomical locations (ear lobes, cartilage, helix, conch, rook, eyebrow, navel, nostril, septum, lip, tongue, nipple, surface, and genital piercings), executed by five APP-member piercers with seven to thirty-plus years of individual experience. It serves individual consumers including minors aged 7-17 with parental consent, and accepts both scheduled appointments (via Square online booking, with piercer selection) and walk-ins at the main Atlanta location, with affiliated studios in Marietta (Queen Bee Tattoo Parlour) and Athens (Pain & Wonder Tattoo & Piercing) operating under common ownership.

The studio's core technology is its safety infrastructure rather than a software platform: a dual autoclave sterilization system combining a large traditional unit with a StatimClave for point-of-process sterilization, individually numbered sterilization monitor strips per client cassette, monthly independent laboratory testing of equipment, single-use needles and soft supplies, and implant-grade Association of Professional Piercers (APP) approved jewelry across hundreds of upgrade options. Digital surface area is limited to the virtueandvice.com WordPress site, Square appointment booking, Google Analytics, UserWay-driven WCAG 2.1 accessibility conformance, and an Instagram gallery presence.

Revenue is generated through three streams: piercing services with basic jewelry bundled into the price, hundreds of jewelry upgrade options sold at additional cost, and jewelry change/stretching services (free installation for studio-purchased jewelry; $15 service fees otherwise). Payment is cash or credit at time of service on a pay-as-you-go basis, with all sales final. The company is privately held with no external investors, no disclosed funding history, and no parent company structure; Bethrah Szumski remains the proprietor and serves on the APP board.

Name

Virtue & Vice

Legal name

Virtue & Vice Body Piercing

Website

https://virtueandvice.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Virtue & Vice is a privately held APP-accredited body piercing studio founded in 1995 in Atlanta, GA, offering professional piercings and implant-grade jewelry across three affiliated Georgia locations to individual consumers and minors with parental consent.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Body Piercing Services

NAICS

Hair, Nail, and Skin Care Services (81211)

SIC

Jewelry, Silverware & Plated Ware (3910)

akta.pro primary industry

Body Jewelry (Piercing Jewelry; Non-precious) (CRAKABAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Custom Body Jewelry & Piercing Jewelry (Made-to-Measure) (CRAKAHAL)

Keywords

• Body piercing services
• Professional piercing studio
• Piercing jewelry retail
• Permanent cosmetics
• Aftercare guidance

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Body Piercing Services: Core revenue from professional piercing services. Prices include basic jewelry with hundreds of upgrade options available for additional purchase. Service fees vary by piercing type as detailed in external pricing menu.
2. Jewelry Sales: Sale of jewelry including initial piercing jewelry (included in service), upgrade jewelry purchases, and replacement/retainer jewelry for healed piercings.
3. Jewelry Change Services: No fee for installation when purchasing jewelry from studio for changes/stretching. $15 glove fee for later changes/removals. $15 service fee per piercing for jewelry not purchased at the studio.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Virtue & Vice provides professional body piercing services for individual consumers across a wide range of anatomical locations, performed by APP-member piercers using implant-grade Association of Professional Piercers approved jewelry and single-use sterile needles. Each piercing service includes basic jewelry with hundreds of upgrade options available for purchase, and the studio also sells replacement/retainer jewelry and performs jewelry change and stretching services. The Atlanta studio additionally offers Permanent Cosmetics, and affiliated studios operate in Marietta and Athens, GA under common ownership.

Product overview

Virtue & Vice is a body piercing studio offering professional piercing services and implant-grade jewelry. The core offering consists of body piercing procedures across multiple body locations, with jewelry sales bundled as part of each service (basic jewelry included in piercing prices, with upgrade options available). The studio additionally provides jewelry change and stretching services as add-ons, and has expanded to include Permanent Cosmetics as a related sub-brand at its Atlanta location.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Body Piercing Services
• Piercing Jewelry Sales
• Jewelry Change and Stretching Service
• Permanent Cosmetics

Quantifiable outcome

• Studio has been in operation since 1995
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Association of Professional Piercers (APP)coreOthers · 3 February 2025Industry association membership since 1996. APP accreditation for the studio. Founder Bethrah Szumski served as APP Secretary (1997) and President. Bethrah organized 7 US conferences and 2 European conferences for the APP. All studio piercers are APP members. Studio displays APP accreditation badge.
• Queen Bee Tattoo ParlourcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2025Same ownership/management as Virtue & Vice. Located at 700 Sandy Plains Rd. A2, Marietta, GA 30066. Multiple piercers work at both Virtue & Vice and Queen Bee Tattoo Parlour, including Eric Holmes and Meg Tillman.
• Pain & Wonder Tattoo & PiercingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2025Owned by Bethrah and Cap Szumski since January 2000. Located at 285 West Washington Street, Athens, GA 30601. Originally Timeless Tattoo location. Same ownership/management as Virtue & Vice. Virtue & Vice originally operated from Timeless Tattoo location then Pain and Wonder after its acquisition.
• Elayne AngelminorOthers · 3 February 2025Professional piercer who mentored Bethrah Szumski after she completed Gauntlet course work. Has continued to provide both professional and personal support throughout Bethrah's career.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 108 Body Piercing: New York-based dedicated body piercing studio emphasizing APP-compliant safety standards and implant-grade jewelry; directly comparable as a high-credentials piercing specialist studio in a major metro market.
• Body Electric Tattoo & Piercing: Long-established Los Angeles tattoo and piercing studio with strong reputation for safe body piercing and curated jewelry selection; comparable as a long-tenured, multi-piercer studio with emphasis on health and safety standards.
• Shaman Modifications: Seattle body piercing studio specializing in APP-standard procedures, complex piercings, and high-end body jewelry; comparable as a specialist piercing studio serving a major metro with strong credentials and premium positioning.
• Saint Sabrina's: Minneapolis body piercing studio with decades of operation and reputation for professional, safety-focused piercing services; comparable as an established regional piercing specialist with similar customer profile.
• Infinite Body Piercing: Philadelphia-area piercing studio known for APP-compliant practices and curated jewelry catalog; comparable as a multi-piercer, credentials-led studio with similar premium service approach.
• Cold Steel America: San Diego piercing studio with strong APP and implant-grade jewelry positioning, focused on complex body piercings; comparable as a specialist piercing studio competing on credentials and service quality.

Broad incumbents

• Claire's: Large mall-based retailer offering ear piercing and fashion jewelry globally; relevant as a broad incumbent that competes on price and accessibility in the ear-piercing and fashion-jewelry categories Virtue & Vice serves.
• Piercing Pagoda: National mall-kiosk chain offering ear piercing and gold jewelry; relevant as a scaled incumbent competing for entry-level piercing and jewelry customers in the same broader category.

Others

• Sephora: Global multi-brand beauty retailer; adjacent as a broad beauty retail channel where consumers purchase body-adjacent beauty and personal-care accessories, but does not offer piercing services.
• Ulta Beauty: Largest US specialty beauty retailer; adjacent as a broad beauty retail channel that competes for the same consumer wallet share on beauty accessories and cosmetics purchases.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/virtueandvice

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Virtue & Vice