The bead goes on
Jody Young wants to have the biggest bead store in the Spokane area, and she’s knocking down a wall to do it. For the past 15 years her shop, Beyond Beads Gallery, at 12021 E. Sprague Ave., carried clothing and home décor along with beads and supplies. This year things are changing.
“I’ll probably add thousands and thousands of dollars in beads,” Young said.
Beyond Beads Gallery is one of a handful of area retailers catering to a growing retail trend. Beads are popping up on pants, belts, T-shirts and even pillows and lampshades. Hobbyists are creating stylish bracelets, necklaces and earrings that put yesterday’s costume jewelry to shame.
“I wouldn’t call beading a craft, it’s wearable art,” Young said. “When somebody makes something, they can make a piece of heirloom jewelry.”
Spokane’s Russ Nobbs has seen his share of highs and lows in the bead industry.
In 1974, Nobbs spent $900 on inventory and $900 in fixtures to open Rings and Things, a specialty jewelry and bead store.
Five years ago he and his wife, Dee Mueller, closed their retail store and focused on mail order and Internet sales. In the past few years, annual sales of beads and supplies averaged between $5 and $10 million, he said.
While beads are peaking in popularity, Nobbs recalls a time during the 1980s when he could hardly sell a bead because gold costume jewelry was the rage.
Business rebounded in the 1990s. In 2001, after 9/11, the company sold out of red, white and blue beads. Sales dipped slightly in 2003, but overall, in the past few years, business increased by 10 to 20 percent annually, he said.
Part of beading’s appeal, Nobbs said, is that do-it-yourselfers can create nicer jewelry than they could buy for the same price, a plus during a down economy.
The hobby’s current popularity has inspired manufacturers across the world to revive century-old bead-making techniques, he said.
In the past year, Michaels Arts and Crafts Store, 15521 E. Broadway Ave., expanded its bead supplies in its Spokane Valley store by 33 percent.
Erin Weza, the store’s event coordinator, said the majority of the bead customers are teenage girls who get ideas from popular magazines.
“The majority of teen and young adult girls are making anything from basic necklaces to belts and purses. Costwise, it’s cheaper to buy it and embellish it yourself than buy one that’s done and pay $45 for it,” Weza explained.
Wonders of the World owner Pamela Barclay never planned to sell beads at her world import gift store, a 12-year-old business in Spokane’s historic Flour Mill, 621 W. Mallon Ave.
But 10 years ago, she caught the beading bug. What started with a couple of trays of beads gave way to a bead section that filled the entire back half of her store.
Recently, Barclay took it a step further and opened Wonders of the World Beads in a separate shop across the hall.
“I bought so many beads for myself that I thought I’d better add them to my store to cover my pastime,” Barclay said.
Stores now offer beads made from diamonds, rubies and sapphires, along with tiger’s eyes and a host of semi-precious stones.
“You can buy beads for 25 cents or $25 or you can buy them for $2,500,” Barclay said.
The hobby is social for the younger generation, who sell and trade items they make at barter fairs, she said. For professional women, beading is a means to unwind after a long day.
Unlike some art forms that take years to master, Barclay said, people get amazing results by taking even a single class offered at area shops. Classes usually cost less than $20, not including supplies.
“Without a huge amount of skill you can start making things that are really quite lovely,” Barclay said.
Stella Ragan, a member of the Colville Indian tribe, opened Creative Native 10 years ago.
Her store at 7202 E. Sprague Ave. sells seed beads of varying sizes along with supplies. The tiny beads are traditionally used by some Native Americans to embellish festive clothing, or regalia, for powwows, Ragan explained.
Today, the majority of her business comes from hobbyists and even from fishermen, who purchase beads for making flies.
“There are a lot of new magazines being published and a lot of books with just everything,” Ragan said, adding, “They bead flowers, and they bead ornaments.”
When Young of Beyond Beads Gallery first opened her store, in the early 1990s, there wasn’t the variety of shells, stone, pearl and glass beads there are today. As beads and fittings became more attractive, magazines and books started publishing a diverse array of patterns.
“The designs are more elaborate, and they are also simple to make. I mean, anyone can do it,” Young said.
When Beyond Beads Gallery’s renovation wraps up in the next couple weeks, people can come in and bead, attend book reviews and get advice on projects, while connecting with others.
Young’s shop has sparked a sisterhood of sorts. Customers became good friends, then employees and even business colleagues.
While working at her first store, at Eighth Avenue and Pines Road, Young met her “soul sister” Cindy Majeski.
Majeski came in and said she’d love to have a store like Young’s. So, nine years ago, Young helped Majeski open a Beyond Beads North, now located at 7452 N. Division. Majeski, in turn, helped another friend open a bead shop in Vancouver, Wash.
Beading has been good to Young, who followed her heart when she gave up a company sales position to open the bead store.
“I put a lot of money back into the business. I’m a bead-aholic, I can’t help it.”