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The Bead Factory
3019 6th Avenue
Tacoma, WA, United States 98406
We have thousands of types of beads from every part of the world, specializing in higher quality beads, findings, tools & supplies. We focus on emulating contemporary jewelry designs & showing the customer how to get these looks for themselves!
t: view phone (888) 500-BEAD
f: view fax (253) 383-9701
w: http://www.thebeadfactory.com
The Bead Factory offers the following products and/or services:
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»»» Washington (97)The Bead Factory was founded by Viki & Mark Lareau in 1992 . We opened in Tacoma, WA to fill the niche of this specialty hobby in the south Puget Sound area.
Our first location was only 300 square feet, we have moved 5 times since then, with our current (and hopefully last) expansion last year into our new 5000 square foot retail store. This location houses our retail store, wholesale mail order department, three classrooms including one just for birthday parties, miscellaneous offices and a kid's play room! While we have thousands of types of beads from every part of the world, we definitely specialize in higher quality beads, findings, tools & supplies. We carry everything from basic Czech glass to diamond strands. We try to focus on emulating popular jewelry designs from magazines, celebrities and catalogs and showing the customer how to get those looks for themselves. We do this by the samples we display or by developing the more challenging designs into classes. The goal for the environment of the store is that of a high-end department store, but with very warm & attentive staff and service. We have tried to think of every possible amenity such as our children's play area; husband's relaxation area; our sit & string station for customers to create in-store; customer bathrooms with candy and tampons; classes with bottled water, snacks, lamps, and magnifiers. Anything our customer wants, we want to provide for them.
We offer over 50 classes per month in one of our three classrooms. We have a main room that can hold up to 20 students; a classroom just for lampworking, PMC, and metalsmithing classes; and then one for children's classes & birthday parties. We send out a full color brochure to over 10,000 of our bead club members every three months or customers can register online. Our bead club can be joined for a one time fee of $3. Members then receive $10 in free merchandise with every $100 they spend, 10% off all classes and invitations to special members-only events, such as our monthly bead group and bead & breakfast get-togethers. We also offer additional benefits to our lifetime members after they have spent $1000, and even more to our "diamond level" customers who have spent over $5,000. All classes are owner or employee taught. Every Bead Factory teacher has gone through extensive training to ensure my customers have the highest quality class experience for which we now enjoy a strong reputation. We also produce and host a yearly bead show in Tacoma called the Puget Sound Bead Festival, now in its twelth year.
The most important element of our store is our service. I have an exceptional staff who knows the customer comes first. All my staff have a lot of service training through monthly meetings. I invest a lot of resources into my staff through training, perks, benefits, parties and general caring. I have worked hard to create a family here and I know customers feel that when they come in. You get back what you give - it's just that simple. There are many places to buy beads, the difference is how a customer feels and is treated when they come in. People bead normally to relax; this is their therapy, and it's my job to be that for them. It is such a privileged to be involved in that part of someone's life. I'm so grateful to each and every customer we have, I hope they feel that every time they come in, they're the entire reason were here. Without them there is no Bead Factory. Our mission today is the same as it was when we opened twelve years ago, "Our goal is to share our passion for beading with the customer through inspiration & education. We are committed to providing the highest quality products and services at fair prices with exceptional customer service." Our job is to fulfill that mission every day.
Hours of work
9am-8pm Monday through Friday
9:30am-6:30pm Saturday & SundayPhoto Gallery
Click here for Slideshow. You can also click on any of the photos to start slideshow.
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