A Bead Source — Attraction in Portland

Well, I was really hoping I was going to rate this five stars. The store itself is very cool and has a good selection and reasonable prices for the products that they have. I had patiently waited my turn for about 10 minutes, with about a $150 worth of items to purchase, for the customer in front of me to be helped. Finally, it was my turn, and I had asked to look at a ring that was in a locked case. At the same time, another customer had just walked in, said she had "just one question", and then, the employee proceeded to walk away from me and go to the other end of the store to begin helping her. Didn't tell her she'd be right with her and have her wait like I had to, didn't communicate anything to me. After waiting for a few minutes by where the rings were, I decided to walk back out by the register, hoping she would be reminded that it was actually my turn. Nope. STILL continued to help this lady that literally JUST walked in. Mind you, I had been there for almost an hour at that point, choosing a lot of different items to purchase, requesting to look at other items to possibly purchase. I feel almost discriminated against for some reason. I'm not sure why the employee felt compelled to walk away from a sale and possible lifetime customer to help someone else, but it was enough for me to walk out and never plan on going in that place again. Which sucks- because they had cool stuff. But I refuse to be treated like I don't matter. And that is EXACTLY how I feel right now. Not to mention, I made a special trip out here for supplies for a piece I'm working on, and now I'm behind. SO...

When a chain store recommended this store I was thrilled, because I didn’t want to buy bulk to make what we were planning. Unfortunately when my wife and I entered the store she was curtly asked to leave her purse with them due to apparent thefts. I was quite taken aback and would have left, but my wife is better at these things than I and wanted to continue looking for what we needed to complete a project. The person started helping us to find what we were looking for specifically. We didn’t find it, but my wife found something she wanted and asked to be checked out. The only reason for 2 stars is because the aunt came to check us out and give back my wife’s purse. It’s unfortunate because Ed’s House of Gems has closed and we hadn’t found a place around for our needs. This really is a great store. I was right impressed with the stock. May I suggest saying, “ Welcome to the store. Due to theft in the past by others may I leave your purse behind the counter while you look around. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you find what you are looking for.” When leaving, “Thanks for coming in and let me know how that works out for you.” Attitude is everything. Listen to how you talk to people, especially when relying on them for...

The store is recovering from a fire in 2020, so the selection is somewhat limited but does have some findings and an expanding selection of beads and such.

As of 6/07/2021 Beads are mostly seed beads but there's a wide variety of colors, sizes and finishes available. Bone beads too, as well as ceramic and stone.

The tools and materials needed for beading are well-represented, with different kinds of pliers, needles, threads, wire, etc available.

There's also a section of polished stones and crystals of varying sizes for those doing crystal healing or wanting pretty stones for decorating. They have a gift shop as well.

Staff are friendly and helpful but will let you browse in peace. Prices are reasonable.

I had visited a number of years earlier and remember there being an impressive variety of... pretty much everything that gets used for beading, with a sense of whimsy in the bulk offerings. Small beads of turtles hatching, for instance.

The store has been around for 30 years and has a solid customer base so will likely survive the setback of fire and covid.

Edit: 8/2023 Store fully recovered and doing better than ever. They take both ApplePay and GooglePay, as well as the usual...