Crafts and Crafters: Bead Shopping: Seattle, WA, USA

Bead Stores

Bead Bazaar (Bellingham, WA)

1001 Harris Avenue, Bellingham, WA
p: 360-671-5655
Just across the border from Canada, Bellingham is on the way to Seattle from Vancouver, BC. A nice, if not all that outstanding, bead store.

Island Bead Co (Burlington, WA)

1234 S Burlington Blvd
p: 360-707-0181
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-4
Approximately halfway to Seattle (from Vancouver) is the Island Bead Co in Burlington (2 blocks from a Krispy Kreme Donut shop and across the street from a sizable mall). A spacious store with lots of display area and room to move around, very little is trapped under glass or locked away behind counters. They are very strong in semi-precious, wood, tools, and Japanese seed beads.

In addition to beads they carry sarongs, windsocks and kites so their store is easy to spot with all the windsocks hanging outside, but don't let that confuse you (pretty windsock store, but where is bead store?? 8) 8).

Alexander's Bead Bazaar (Seattle, WA)

6307 Roosevelt Way NE
p: 206-526-8909
Specializing in ethnic jewelry and tribal arts, their beads stock skews towards stone, wood, and semi-precious gems although they do carry more standard fare.

Beadworld (Seattle, WA)

9520 Roosevelt Way NE
p: 206-523-0530
A great store with a very friendly owner.

Beads & Beyond (Bellevue, WA)

25 102nd Avenue NE
p: 425-462-8992
Right next to Seattle proper, Bellevue is emphatically part of the greater Seattle area.
A truly outstanding bead store. The selection of beads (especially Japanese seed), buttons, findings and supplies is very good, the store is well laid out so you can see everything. There is a very good selection of books that include some Russian and Japanese books and magazine back issues. Classes are regularly offered, often by nationally recognized artists. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. There is a small play area in the store for children and right across the street is a very nice park with play structures and a waterway with ducks in the summer. On the other side of the park is Bellevue Square, a large mall with extended hours where you can set loose the rest of your family while you bead shop.

The Craft Emporium (Pike Place, Seattle, WA)

Closed

Fusion Beads (Seattle, WA)

3830 Stone Way N
p: 206-782-4595
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Tue 10-7, Sun 12-5
Another truly outstanding bead store (Seattle seems to have more than their fair share!). Skewed somewhat towards art beads (lampworked glass, semi-precious, crystal, and silver) the selection is diverse and nicely laid out (except for the semi-precious which is stacked under glass, under the counter). They have a good selection of books including Russian, Japanese, and one French volume. Classes are mostly taught by in-house talent (but these are not to be looked down upon!). They also have a play area for the children in the store, although the locale cannot be compared to Beads and Beyond for family friendliness (so, leave 'em at home!).
Note: They've moved since my last visit, so that should be taken into consideration WRT layout comments.

Hands of the Hills (Mercer Island, WA)

3016 78th Avenue SE
p: 206-232-8121
Hours: Tues-Sat 10am-6pm
3 blocks from I-90, between Seattle and Bellevue
A bead store that also carries clothing and folk art.

Monsoon (Seattle, WA)

4536 University Way NE
p: 206-633-2446

Blue Iris Beads (Kent, WA)

406 West Meeker Street
p: 253-852-8055
Hours: Tues-Fri 11-6, Sat 10-5, Closed Sun-Mon
Approximately 25 mins from Seattle.

Bead Boppers (Puyallup, WA)

3924 S. Meridian
p: 253-848-3880
Approximately 40 mins from Seattle, the store itself is small and dingy, although the online catalog is interesting, especially the books.

Imagine That! (Poulsbo, WA)

18954 Front Street
p: 360-779-3345
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5
Relatively close as the crow flies from Seattle, by road there is water and other navigational issues in the way making for a trip in the vicinity of 90 mins.

The Bead Factory (Tacoma, WA)

2601 6th Avenue
p: 253-572-5529
Approximately 45 mins from Seattle. The store that organizes the Puget Sound Bead Festival.

Shipwreck Beads (Lacey, WA)

8560 Commerce Place Dr NE
p: 360-754-2323
Hours: 9am-6pm
Approximately an hour from Seattle, this store is well worth the trip. Think of a "big box store" (usually a grocery store, Wal-mart or Home Depot sort of place). But, instead of hammers or cheap clothing, the place is full of beads. Row on row, shelf after shelf of beads in strands, beads in bags, beads loose in drawers. They have their own cafeteria/cafe area. Instead of ice cube trays or muffin tins to hold your selections, they give you a small stack of compartmented trays and an industrial type trolley to collect your selections.

Jewelry and Lapidary Supply Stores

TSI Inc. (Seattle, WA)

101 Nickerson Street
p: 206-282-3046
Hours: Mon-Sat 9am -5:30pm
The bead selection here is pretty vague (as the web site name indications this is a jewelry supply store, not a lapidary, so there's not much in the way of rocks either), but tools, stringing supplies, metals, reference books, etc they do have at reasonable prices. The quality of their stock includes the middle and lower ends of the spectrum, so if you're an experimenter/hobbyist that doesn't require professional/industrial quality tools, then this is the place to go.
Warning: We have encountered both friendly and knowledgeable as well as unhelpful staff at the store.

Lampworked Bead Supply Stores

Non-Standard Supply Stores

Book Stores