Lark Crafts

Here’s a new monthly featurette–a write-up by any and all of you about your local bead store. It’s useful information for anybody visiting a new town and wanting to check out the bead stores. I invite you to send in your own dispatch about a bead purveyor in your hometown. For more information about submitting, see the italicized section at the bottom of this post.

 

My Local Bead Store, Chevron Trading Post & Bead Company

By Nathalie Mornu

Here in Asheville, we’re lucky enough to have three bead stores plus a couple of craft chains, so there’s no shortage of beadiness. Beads & Beyond and Chevron Trading Post & Bead Co. are downtown, and Silver Armadillo is a mile or two from the center of town. I chose Chevron for this “report” because it’s only a block from my office.

So, what’s great about Chevron? Plenty.

The bead selection is outrageous! Bali silver, African trade, crystals, Indian glass, vintage, seed beads and more seed beads, art glass, gemstones, pearls, cabochons, carved wood, Czech glass, bone. And that’s just the major sections of the store! You can buy most beads by the piece, rather than in strands or prepackaged in baggies. (Seed beads are sold by the tube, of course.) My only suggestion for improvement would be to beef up the filigree department. Chevron carries findings galore in every finish of metal, nearly 100 different sorts of chain, silk ribbon and other stringing materials, feathers, minerals, tools, and wire. You’ll find the latest magazines and a good selection of books. There’s some nice jewelry for sale. They also offer classes. And if you hunt around, you’ll find all kinds of unexpected oddities. Today I noticed replica Tibetan locks and keys for sale. Too cool.

The staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and definitely interested in what you’re making. Every time I go in there, an employee comments positively on my project or asks what I’m going to do with my purchase. They’re all so sweet!

A gorgeous saltwater aquarium harmonizes nicely with the hues of the beads around it. There’s a store dog–a big ole sweet lab named Millie–and a store cat. I just love a shop that keeps pets around, don’t you?  Once you’ve shopped til you’ve dropped, go across the street to the Lab, a restaurant/brewery. After recharging with a little snack and a drink, you’re ready to walk up the block to Tops for Shoes. You did bring your charge card with the highest limit, didn’t you?

 

 

We encourage you to submit a post about your local bead store! It can be anywhere on the planet. Simply write a few paragraphs about the shop, making sure to include the town it’s in, and your name. Take a digital picture or two of the exterior. Only take interior shots and photos of people if they give you explicit permission to use them on larkcrafts.com’s blog post. Email text, store photos and a picture of yourself, too, to mylocalbeadstore@sterlingpublishing.com. Once a month, I’ll pick a submission at random and post it, giving you full credit for writing it, of course. (Lark reserves the right to edit your writing so you’ll sound your best!) In exchange for your trouble, if your review gets chosen for posting, I’ll send you a copy of any single Lark book you want, as long as it’s in print and available in our North Carolina offices.