After discovering the largest bead store in the world was located in Lacey, WA, our travel plans changed. We had been planning on taking a ferry from Kingston to Edmonds. But now we were going to drive around.
Finding Shipwreck Beads was not too difficult. There were signs along the roads guiding us to the store. There was plenty of parking available. In the walkway leading to the entrance of the store there were beads embedded in the concrete.
We entered the store, and the place was huge. They claim to have something like 8 or 9 billion beads. Wow! I have seen other bead stores that my wife has gone to, and all of them put together would not come close to matching this place. Personally, I have no interest in beads, so I turned my wife loose, and went back to the car to play with my GPS plotting used bookstores in Tacoma. In a bit, I went back in, and my wife had only gone about one row. What scared me was that she had a cart. Not a basket, but a cart! Ouch! She showed me a room with a TV (and remote control) called the "Man Room". I told her I was going to go visit the one used book store that I found in Lacey.
When I got back, she had a small amount of beads in the cart. Okay, this didn’t look so bad. I thought she would have a lot more. She said she was about done, so we headed to the checkout.
The checkout line was slow. They need to hand enter the item numbers for each item. Also, beads that are not already bagged are placed into bags and sealed. So we had to wait in line for a while.
When we finally got to the check, my placed her small amount of beads on the counter. There was a bag of Chinese beads. The lady pulled out a few strings and informed my wife that just 3 strings would be about $10. My wife chose to only get the 3 strings of those. The beads that she had selected totaled up to over $100! Ouch! The book that I had bought while I was gone only cost 50 cents!! But I am sure m wife will be able to use the beads she got.
Shipwreck Beads is located at 8560 Commerce Place Dr NE, Lacey, WA 98516. Phone: (360) 754-2323.
Hey,
Thanks for the write up!
We really appreciate it.
I am sorry you had to wait in line so long.
We have since updated every string and package in the store with UPC scan codes. Checkout is much quicker, depending on how much you have, of course
We just can’t figure out how to get the scan code on the single beads that people pick from drawers. This is usually what slows things down. Short of making our customers take large enough quantities to justify packaging them we cannot speed up the process of the individually chosen beads.
The only option we can think of is to put a stack of scan tags in the drawers with the items and just have the customers write down the quantity they have chosen. We did a trial run of this and the tags were re-arranged by someone who thought it would be funny. Needless to say we are still working on this aspect of the checkout process.
Glad you enjoyed your visit.
Next time you come by, ask if I am in and I will buy you a coffee.
Lisa Vincent
VP
Comment by Lisa Vincent — December 2, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
Thanks for the post!
Really appreciate it.
Happy to know you enjoyed your visit.
Comment by African Beads — October 18, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
i have been also, i liked what i saw, very much actually.
Comment by charms and jewelry — January 13, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
I visited your store 2 years ago and LOVED every moment of being there, (I’m from out of state.) What I’d reallllly like to know is how were the beads embedded into the cement in front of the store? I have a small studio in my back yard for lampwork bead making, I’ve been saving beads that aren’t up to par and want to do the same thing on the step into the studio
Thanks!
Comment by Gaye — April 9, 2010 @ 2:33 am
i had no idea thats where the biggest bead store in the world was. that sounds like so much fun visiting! thank you for the information.
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Comment by Jammie Brazill — June 29, 2011 @ 1:57 am