“Ahwatukee gains beaded-jewelry business”

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:53 PM PST

by Cathryn Creno - Feb. 21, 2011 02:26 PM
The Arizona Republic

A passion for beaded jewelry first gave Julie LaChance college spending money, next took her to exotic locales like Indonesia in search of materials, then helped her meet her husband, and recently brought her to Ahwatukee Foothills.

In December, the Chandler mother of two moved her busy shop, Another Bead Please!, from south Tempe to the Plaza at Mountainside at 40th Street and Chandler Boulevard.

Another Bead Please!

"I had been at my last location for 11 years and it was time to move," LaChance said.

LaChance said the new location works because many of her customers live in Ahwatukee, Chandler and Tempe. "Several people have said, 'Great, you are so much closer now,' " she said.

Jewelry making has been a hot trend at least since the start of the recession. Friends gather in homes or at stores like Another Bead to string pearls, crystals and gemstones into bracelets and necklaces. It's a way to socialize, be creative and avoid the high retail mark up on jewelry someone else has made.

But LaChance discovered the business of beading well ahead of the trend.

LaChance sold her first beaded creations from a blanket on the Arizona State University campus in the late 1980s.

"I would double my investment and be as happy as a clam that I had money to go to happy hour," she said.

Shortly after that, she opened her first version of Another Bead in a kiosk at Paradise Valley Mall. "I knew I was on to something when tourists would walk by and snap pictures of my designs" to replicate, she said.

When she opened her first store in south Tempe in 1995, "people said, 'Good luck with that.' But then they were back in a few weeks buying beads," she said.

It helps that LaChance has been adventurous when stocking her store. She has traveled the world looking for interesting beads and even spent a month in Bali, Indonesia, lining up suppliers.

"I found bead makers who were making the most fabulous stuff," she said. "I still use some of them today."

Stocking beads and chains that customers don't see anywhere else helps LaChance compete with large chain craft stores. Right now, beads made from organic materials like bone or amber resin are popular sellers, she said.

"I don't reorder a lot of stuff - people who are arty appreciate that," she said.

"Once it's gone it's gone and I look for something new. And I don't sell anything made out of plastic."

Over the years, she also has built a solid base of customers like Tempe resident Martha Strogen, who said she "can't stop" making earrings since taking a class at the store several years ago.

Another Bead Please offers classes a few times a week. A schedule can be found on www.anotherbead.com.

"Making earrings gives me a lift," Strogen said while sporting a pair of earrings made from white- and copper-colored pearls. "I wear them and give them as gifts to friends."

LaChance said her customers typically pay half the amount they would spend on a necklace or bracelet for the same item - pre-made - at a jewelry or department store.

But she does not think that is what has helped her develop repeat customers.

What has? Her "jewelry lounge," she said.

"I don't call it a classroom," she said. "It's a place where people can come and have a creative outlet. Sometimes people come in when they are having a rough day. We talk and hang out and they feel better."

Some first-time customers come simply for a jewelry repair or to find a single item. That's how LaChance met her husband, she said. He came in to have a chain repaired and wound up returning.

Debbie Buller, now an instructor at the store, found her passion and a way to relax at Another Bead. She first came to the store 15 years ago to learn how to string beaded chains for eyeglasses.

Buller, also a flight attendant, said beading helps her unwind.

"It's really calming," she said. "Doing beading is a requirement on all my trips."

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