Bangles & Beads — Local services in Richmond

I am a silversmith and own two businesses. I occasionally shop here for inventory for my designs and have been for over 7 years. The prices are high, but sometimes it’s worth being able to look at the selection in person. And I like supporting local businesses. When I do shop there I spend a couple hundred dollars at a time. But after the attitude yesterday I will not be back.

It was like 2pm yesterday when I stopped in for an inventory shopping trip. I picked up a strand of beads and continued looking. One employee came up to me and offered me a basket. I politely declined and she explained it’s store policy that you have to have a basket, which is more like a thin wicker tray that is aggravating to carry around while shopping. Having to find a place to put it down on their limited counter space every time I want to look at something is inconvenient and does not lead to a positive shopping experience. The last time I shopped there I couldn’t use my left hand for 2 days because of the flare up it caused. I explained I have polymyalgia and a migratory form of arthritis and can’t carry something like that cause it aggravates my wrist, but that I would keep the beads right there over my arm where they could be seen. She seemed satisfied and walked away. I turn around to another section of beads and 30 seconds after the first girl offered me a basket, Bella offered me one. Again I declined, maybe sounding slightly annoyed at that point because she had to have been right there behind me when I spoke to the first girl. So I feel like she was intentionally giving me a hard time. Again she said I had to. Again I told her about my disability and how it hurts to carry a tray like that. Then she got a nasty attitude and in a very rude sarcastic tone told me she could carry it for me. Her tone made it very clear she was NOT trying to be helpful, but was being facetious and disrespectful. I should have let her be my personal shopping bag, but the way she said it upset me so much that I tossed the beads into the tray she had shoved in front of me and left because I refuse to give my money to people who treat me like that.

I’ve been in customer service for years and run two businesses. If I spoke to customers that way I would be out of business! And if they keep treating people like that, they will go out of business just like all the other bead shops in the area have. There are proper ways to handle these things. She could have POLITELY asked if she could carry them or asked if I could leave them at the counter. Or hey, how about you have actual baskets people can carry over their arms. But instead she treated me like a thief and made me feel awful for having a disability. The only things I can do to help the pain I experience is to not do things that will aggravate it, like carry a stupid tray around. It already stresses me out enough that I can’t do all the things I used to and have to be really conscious about how carry things. So I really didn’t need to feel discriminated against because of my medical issues. And she made someone who was prepared to spend a few hundred dollars feel like a common thief.

I called to speak to the owner and the girl who answered the phone said she wasn’t available but that she was the manager. So I explained to her what happened and she took my name and number, but not before informing me they would be checking the video and audio to make sure what I told her actually happened. She could have just said she would pass on the message. She didn’t need to throw salt in the wound and imply I was lying. I found out later the person I was talking to was actually the same person who had been so rude pretending it was the first time she had heard of it.

I will never shop there again and you shouldn’t either. Don’t support people who don’t care about their customers and show such disrespect for people with disabilities. You can find the same stuff online for half the price anyway. That’s what I get for trying to support a local business I guess. But this is a local business that needs to...

LONG IMPORTANT POST

Please do not support Bangles and Beads in Carytown Richmond, VA. In the past I have had some bad experiences, but this past week’s experience was the most harrowing by far. The employees, particularly the owner have a devious way of watching and following you around the store as if you are suspected of stealing. The way that they forcefully try to make you take a tray/basket only amplifies this notion.

This past Thursday I was in the store with my friend Christina; another local artist who makes jewelry. She needed to run in quickly to pick up two items to finish up a bracelet for one of her church members. We have both frequented the store before, so she already knew exactly where to go in the store to pick out her items. She went to the back and grabbed a strand of metallic beads, and an employee offered her a basket, to which she replied that she didn’t need one. Christina then went to the front of the store and picked up the second item and proceeded to the register to check out. As she laid her items on the front counter she took a second to look at the items side by side (there’s better lighting in the front of the store) to make sure that they complimented each other. As this is happening, the owner comes over and takes he items off of the checkout counter and places them on a shopping tray. Christina took them back off of the tray and let the owner know that she was just looking at the items and was about to check out. The owner proceeded to say that it was store policy (even though it’s not posted on the premises, and the employees only offer you a tray when they think you may steal). What happened next was beyond belief.

The owner lunges across the counter and grabs at Christina trying to snatch the merchandise from her hand exclaiming “these are my things, not yours!” and even makes contact with her hitting her thumb. The both of us are now in shock trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with this woman. She then attempts to kick us out and gets the phone to call the police! At this point we don’t leave so that we have the opportunity to explain how she escalated everything so quickly for absolutely no reason. After waiting and the police not showing up, we decide that we would call them because after all it was her actions that were aggressive and uncalled for. One of the most astonishing things about the whole ordeal was that when the cop arrived he informed us that this behavior is not out of the ordinary for her!

Please repost and share this. You may not be a jeweler, but you can still help spread the word. No store owner should feel like they can treat customers as if they are thieves and/or feel as if they can put their hands on a customer. No store owner should feel as if they can threaten customers with unlawful calls to the police. I will never frequent this establishment again, and I hope that we can be a catalyst for her receiving some sort of consequence for...

Myself and my friend were racially profiled by the owner and her daughter. After shopping here for at least two years with no problems. Today, the mother/owner of the shop accused my friend of taking an item while we were shopping in the store to prepared for an upcoming event. After explaining on 2 occasions to the owner that the items we were not interested in were put back, the owner/mother of the store continued to be condescending and accusatory. “I didn’t see you put it back, you could have put it in your pocket.” In being the melanin indigenous King and Queen and not meeting her accusations as thieves, we asserted ourselves and stood in our squares to question and challenged her accusations and misperceptions; causing the mother/owner to be enraged. She threatened to call the police which never showed and required the intervention of her daughter to support her by inquiring about what was in my friend’s pockets to appease her mother. Once that did not work and she was was made aware of her unproven delusional thinking, the mother/owner became even more angry and verbally aggressive again after being proven wrong and could not provoke or antagonize us into playing words games. She then wanted us to leave because we did not allow her to speak down to us while maintaining our integrity and poise.. As her daughter saids “he shops here, mom I am familiar with him”, however eventually sides with her mother/owner. The owner was completely out of line, prejudice, and used racial profiling. Her final words were “I just didn’t like the way they spoke to me.” She became upset when she didn’t get the typical aggressive behaviors but still was assertively challenged on her misconduct and questioned on her character and dishonest acts in creating a hostile and uncomfortable shopping experience. The owner/mother daughter team did and do not provide an inclusive shopping environment for everyone. Their lack of professional tact, and faulty accusations caused a disturbing shopping experience, that ended quickly with no support from us. As I said to my friend, now we know what type of organization/establishment bangles and beads really represents and we will not support them due to their judgmental and hypocritical behaviors that do not support the energy and vibe of what crystals and stones represent. Be mindful of some of their copper chains they are not real copper and tend to...