They're Everywhere, They're Everywhere!

Bead Stores, that is...


I spent this past weekend in Morro Bay with my husband, celebrating his 55th birthday. We drove up early Friday morning (and I do mean early) and arrived around 9:30 am. While waiting for our hotel room to become available, we wandered around the town, looking at neighborhoods and tourist attractions. After poking around the shops by the waterfront, we checked out other downtown streets. And wouldn't you know, in this sleepy little town we found not one, but TWO bead stores!


Harvey noticed the first one, and immediately swerved into a parking spot a couple doors down. He said to take as long as I wanted, so I did. What fun.

This one was Beads By the Bay. It was a small, jam-packed little store, with two rooms up front, and a garden where they sold plants, and a little shed-like building with a table and clearance items. I imagine they held classes back in the little shed, and it looked cozy and inviting.


And they also had a sweet neighborhood yellow kitty with no tail who came up to me and nuzzled and talked to me. She let me pet her tummy and followed me back past the koi pond into the main rooms of the store. They had dishes with food and water for her, and said all the neighboring businesses got visits from her.

I found some fun seed beads, bugle beads, pearls and findings, and tore myself away before I dented my checking account much worse.

The lady who worked at that first store also told me about another one around the corner. Paula Radke, the dichroic glass beadmaker, had her store a mere block away.

So I checked her store out too, and had a pretty tough time choosing a strand of dichroic glass beads. She had a bunch of pre-strung beads with Swarovsky crystals and spacers, just itching to be finished into bracelets or taken apart to make earrings or necklaces.

I struggled and finally decided to go with a strand of black/orange/pink/fuscia round beads that came with light pink Swaro 6mm crystals and gold star-shaped spacers. I don't know what I will use them for, but I was pretty pleased with my purchase.


I behaved in that store (mostly because her beads were pretty expensive), and happily left with my one strand.

My husband earned LOTS of brownie points that day. He even stopped at a couple more stores just for me, but these two were the cream of the crop. I was in bead heaven for the rest of the weekend.