Calgary Bead Shopping

Bead Stores

Beads & Plenty More

1011 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
hours: Monday-Saturday 12-7, Sunday 12-5 (Sunday opening only during the holiday shopping season)

A small, but tidy shop with all the beads in little glass dishes in various cabinets lining the wall. Lots of interesting pressed glass, plastic and metal shapes that I haven't seen much elsewhere. A little bit of everything (seed, delicas, swarovskis, czech, semi-precious, wood/bone, etc).

Note: The shop is on the second floor, and there's no elevator access, so if you're packing a stroller or have other mobility issues, you've got problems (I ended up leaving the bottom part of my stroller at the shop downstairs (Penelope's) where the shopkeeper is very nice and sells interesting things from Peru).

Jewelry and Lapidary Supply Stores

Green's

Komarevich

Button Stores

Lampworked Bead Supply Stores

Non-Standard Supply Stores

Canadian Tire (National Chain store)

Beaders have long haunted fishing tackle stores for supplies and even more since Fireline has been reported as one of the best stringing materials around. You can get it many places, but Canadian Tire has it as well as Spider Wire (that you might want to try as well). Don't forget to pickup some cheap pliers, wire cutters, and glue while you're there...

Book Stores

Chapters/Indigo (National Chain)

When you have a mega store, you have to stock some less than entirely mainstream books, because there's only so many copies of Harry Potter and the latest movie tie in thriller that you can fill your store with and not look stupid. So it is that Chapters/Indigo has a fairly decent selection of current craft and beading books. They may not make sure that they have a good stock of all the classics, but if what you're looking for just came out, you have a fair chance of finding it a one of their stores.