$7.00 strand table is BACK!

Just received, today, the latest shipment to add to the table. New products, more coral and some funky semi-precious things, i'm not sure of........

Hurry in for best selection.

Running an independant business is hard.

There are many ways to grow a business. We believe in ethics, value in your shopping experience and offering you customer service you don't receive at hobby stores, the internet and sadly at some bead stores.

Offering crazy sales that last over a week is just bad for business and screams, "HELP, I'm lost, buy my stuff cuz I don't know what i'm doing!" It depleats the VALUE in the products that we sell and brings down the local market as a whole. We also believe in NEVER slamming a competitor. Judy Schwab is a wonderful person and is in our opinion the BEAD QUEEN of chicago. Ayla Philips has the most beautiful store and has created an awesome ambiance and a wholesale business that we aspire to. Nanc Meinhardt recently retired and she undoubtably is and always will be the SEED BEAD QUEEN. These ladies work hard in their businesses and should be praised for the business' they have built. These stores offer quality and high grade products just like us!

Luz and I search high and low to find products that you're interested in, and at the best prices that you deserve. Each of our stores exudes in the personalities of the owners and our stores offer different products that you should stop by to see. Yes we all have quality stringing supplies, Swarovski crystals and crimps, but each store is different and full of quality. Shouting out false claims of greatness and using the words "the best" "the largest" "the biggest" is just something we aren't comfortable with. Maybe we need to over inflate our ego? One business owner I worked for said "Don't ever believe your own brochure" We tell the truth and don't inflate or lie, It's just not us! We offer customer service that you don't usually receive whether you're at a bead store, bank, or even a Subway sandwich shop. Growing our company through value and customer service is our way of staying in business.

We haven't had to slash our prices and kill product values to make a sale because we offer quality and value and we wish to stay in business for a long time. Yes times are tough, the recession is kickin our butts. We work hard to market our business, work 6-7 days a week and 10-12 hours a day to grow our businesses and offer you the best products we can at a price that is fair and competitive. We work at this business because of the love of artistic creativity, customer service and although full moons are hard, we love meeting and introducing people to their creative side.

Our customers (you) have favorite stores and good for you! You realize that value is not just a price tag or a % off an inflated price, it's the help, assistance, time spent in our stores, the designing help you receive and the feeling you have as you smile warmly and clutch the bag of goodies as you walk out of the door.

To our collective friends, customers and ones yet to meet, thank you for visiting your LOCAL BEAD STORE and thank you Judy and Ayla and Nanc, you're great roll models.

Many changes are happening

WoW, what a week. First off, if you are not aware, we belong to an alliance of full service bead stores. To join there was a list of criteria which we had to satisfy, out of all the full service bead stores in Illinois, we were chosen! That was last year and, Well, this alliance is really starting to grow.

The alliance, LOCAL BEAD STORES has recently updated it's web site to offer better content to you! The alliance is made up of a select group of stores in the USA and Canada and are reviewing stores from other countries as well. What we offer that is different, better, more complete than other alliances is sourcing, (meaning group buying to save you money) sharing of knowledge, trading products amongst ourselves and working to teach each other new skills, tips and tricks of the trade in order to be able to give you the best buying experience we can offer.

Last week, I put out a sample of AGATE slices. If you didn't come in to see them, you missed them, they are all gone! We ordered more and they will be in shortly.

A local women in town, Amy Grabowski is raising money for the Avon walk for breast cancer and asked us to help her. She handcrafted some pretty neat jewelry holders made of cotton fabric and screen. We posted them on our online store for you to see and maybe assist her in raising money?

And how did you spend your Sunday morning?