The Beadman

I must be a glutton for punishment. In my last review I just reread I said ‘never again’, then, like a moron, I went back today. Decided to swing by and give The Beadman another chance and can now say for certain I’ll not be taking my business there again, not ever. Last year they sold me something that I was told was solid sterling silver that was, in fact, silver plated. I also had an employee be blatantly rude and standoffish to me when I was in to buy supplies and I had not been in since that silver incident. Today my cousin (who lives out of town but used to be local) asked me to meet her there and while we were there her 2 year old twins were looking through a bin of crocheted hats. The employees made us SUPER uncomfortable and were very rude, asking repeatedly if we needed help, if the kids were hers, if everything was okay, and literally hovering over us in a really bizarre way. We were asked no less than 10 times by the same person (and I got the drift that the kids made the lady uneasy but they weren’t hurting anything and if she had something to say about them touching a couple of hats she should have said it in a polite and DIRECT manner). I was going to spend some money but felt so uncomfortable we all just decided to leave and I won’t be back.

This is one of my favorite bead stores to go to and one that I’m a bit partial to since it’s located in my hometown.
This store used to be half the size, but carried the same amount of beads that it currently has. They expanded a while back when the people in the suite next to theirs moved.
Their bead selection is pretty huge as far as czech and seed beads are concerned. They have a wall covered with both, as well as a corner and counter for gemstone beads. They have boxes of tubes of seed beads, as well as boxes that hold singles you can buy, although their variety of single beads can’t hold a candle to the variety of strands and tubes they have.
The gemstone selection is ok. There are things that I think are overpriced, but there are also strands that are at fair or good prices. Really, you just have to know what you can get elsewhere and whether or not the quality of the stones are to your standard. I’ve never bought much from them because we have a local gemstone/​bead show that rolls through town every few months, so I don’t generally buy many gemstones elsewhere anymore since the prices at the show are so much better. In any case, it’s still worth taking a look at their stones because there is a chance of finding some hidden treasure there.
They do have a fairly large selection of books and jewelry making tools, which I generally don’t look through, but if you’ve looking for them, they’ve got them. The pricing on the tools is competitive; I can’t say if the books are though.
They have plenty of your typical beading supplies, threads, cord, needles, mats, trays etc, at really reasonable prices too.
They have a findings section in the store, which does have a lot of things, but to me is not as great as it could be. I have things that I’ve bought from them that I’ll probably never use because their labels aren’t very clear as to what exactly the findings are made of. I may have asked in the store and gotten an answer, but months later, I’m not going to remember whether or not the base metal contains nickel (which some are allergic to) and won’t be able to use them. Also I have had jumprings that were plated, but the plating wasn’t very good and it rubbed off within weeks. So I never bought jumprings from them again. That being said, I’m sure that they have findings which are great, but honestly with the system they’ve got going I think it’s better to order things off the internet and be able to know exactly what you got. It’s also not that easy to dig through and find things when the store is more busy at times. They also carry plenty of wire and I’m fairly sure that they have a selection of chain as well, but I’ve never really noticed it.
They also have a section of the store which is more natural type beads and materials; leather, feathers, porcupine quills, fur, etc.
The staff are friendly, although sometimes they do seem fairly busy and I hesitate to bother them with any questions I have. I need a little help with some color matching the last time I was there and the woman who helped me was very nice and also helped me a great deal.
The other half of the store is kind of a hippy type store, but not as much as it was previously. There is a pretty large selection of wind chimes (I always want to play with all of them) and a fairly massive selection of all sorts of finished jewelry that is really quite nice. A lot of silver stuff. There’s dream catchers hung all over the ceiling of the store, and if you’re short like me it might be a little surprising when you finally notice all of them just hanging out there the entire time.
I buy beads and jewelry supplies from them so I can’t vouch for prices of other things in their store. From my experience, The Beadman has some of the fairest prices that I have seen in a bead store. I would definitely recommend this store to anyone looking for jewelry making supplies.
A major thing to note about this store. They have great sales, so if you’re planning to go on a bead rampage, you can buy tons and tons of things and get a pretty amazing discount when they’re having a sale. It’s usually around holidays, but I’m sure they have other sales too. I’ve never been disappointed by any of their sales. Sale time is the best time (obviously) to hit them up.
If I had to pick one bad thing about this bead store, it’s the fact that they don’t have a website. I talked to the owner a year or so ago and mentioned that I was surprised that they didn’t have one. I’d buy from them in a heartbeat if they had stock online, but they don’t. The owner said that they didn’t have plans for any sort of website either (keep in mind this was a year ago) and that made me extremely sad because I know that they’ll probably end up dying a slow death eventually if they don’t catch up or compete with the internet. You can call in a order by phone I was told, but honestly, who’s going to do that in this day and age? Get a website Beadman!

Our business purchases from bead stores all over the country. The Beadman has been a life saver. If we need something that we cannot find, Alita will search until she comes up with it. For a store of their size they have a remarkable inventory. Both the owners and staff are knowledgeable and friendly. Their customer service is tops.

They have a big selection but they didn’t have what I needed. Doesn’t anybody make leather jewelry and need heavy sturdy clasps? They didn’t even have end caps that I could clamp down to the leather ends. Very disappointed they don’t carry what I need and again I have to order online from another store.

Little bit of everything cool!
Vast selection of beads, beads and more beads! Every color, every design, glass bead selection is very unique!
Cards, incense, tye-​dye clothing, candles, jewelry (rings, necklaces, earrings), figurines, wind chimes, pipes, trinkets, sarongs, dream catchers etc… look up and you’ll see all different flags/​banners on the walls, mirrors, etc.
I wanted to find something unique for myself. I found a beautiful glass dragonfly that will hand in the window.
Prices are comparable. Staff is friendly and attentive.

Got stuck in Redding, decided to hit the local beading stores — well, beading store.
The Beadman is a beading store, a hippie type store, and a seller of finished jewelry. I only paid attention to the beading portion of the store.
The selection was varied, and different than what I see at other places. There were a bunch of carved stone fetishes that I went through, looking to find a decent phoenix to work with. (Failed. Again. *sigh*)
As with all bead stores, some prices are good, some are poor, and others are fantastic. Some of the fetish’s prices were pretty good; the gem strands they had were at market value, and the findings & other random beads were varied and decently priced. They have a fairly large selection of gems where, as well as tons of glass & seed beads.
Next time I’m stuck in Redding, I’ll probably make a return trip.

I always enjoy myself every time that I go there.

Very unique gifts. This store has it all. Beads, jewelry, paper lanterns, imported clothing, wind chimes and much much more.