Beyond Beadery: Letter from Betcey

April 1, 2006

Hey, guess what?!

It’s our birthday this month! Beyond Beadery will be 19 years old on April 4th . . . can you believe it?

The year was 1987.
I was 25 years old when I set up shop in a tiny store in Woodstock, NY. When I quit my job at the food co-op, everyone thought I was a little crazy.

“ummm . . . you’re going to sell . . . what????”

Ok, so maybe I was a little crazy . . . certainly young, naive, and possessing a total lack of business acumen. However, I also had a bit of common sense, a good work ethic, a fortunate sense of timing, and a boatload of good luck.

And most importantly - I loved beads. Loved, loved, loved ‘em.

I started out really small, sharing a tiny store with a juice bar. At the time, there were not many bead stores around - virtually none east of the Mississippi, so I had no competition - but I didn’t have anything to model myself after, either!

Want to see a picture of that first tiny shop? Go here. This was taken about a year after we opened - and about 2 weeks before I gave birth to my daughter Taija (who will be 18 this month!!).

Years flew, we grew . . . who knew?

Anyway - we couldn’t have done it without YOU. For this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Betcey (feeling all warm and fuzzy and mushy right now)

Hi, Beady Babes & Buddies!

May 2002..........

We’ve got a whirlwind of upcoming bead shows in these soon-to-be-summer months (at least they tell me it’s almost summer . . . it’s still snowing & blowing up here in the high country)! Maybe one of these shows will be in your vicinity - if so, we invite you to come by & see some of our sparklies in person - soooo much more fun to pick out your beads in full, living color - catalogs & websites just never do them justice, do they?

OK, that’s the good news . . . now for the bad. As you know, Beyond Beadery is just the two of us, & well - until we figure out how to clone ourselves, we can’t be in two places at once. That means the mail-order portion of our business will have to be CLOSED during all this traveling. Please note our summer schedule, & plan ahead! Order all the beads you’ll need to get you through the summer NOW!

We will be closing MAY 24 & reopening AUGUST 5 - that’s 10 weeks we’ll be on the road! I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I just can’t figure out any other reasonable options.

If you’re not in a great hurry for your beads, you can certainly place your order via our webalog or fax, & we will fill your order as soon as humanly possible! We will be home briefly in between each show to re-stock & scratch Josey’s belly (don’t worry, we have a doggie-sitter), so if your order is awaiting us during one of our pit-stops, & the beads you need are not packed away too terribly deeply, we’ll do our best to get it out to you. We’ll be filling orders like crazy as soon as we return home!

Orders will be filled by date, so the earlier you get yours to us, the sooner we’ll get it back to you! The last time we closed for a month, we were able to fill all the orders in between shows quite promptly . . . until the last 3 days, when we were bombarded with hundreds of orders - it took us weeks to get caught up again!

The moral of this story? If you want to place an order while we’re away, don’t wait till the last few days! Or, wait - maybe the moral of this story should be that Mark & I shouldn’t be closed for so long . . . but since I’m writing the story, I get to choose the happy ending . OK - so everyone will place their orders online with our Secure Shopping Cart (because they’re sooo much faster for me to write up) & we’ll fill ‘em & ship ‘em & we’ll all live happily ever after!

The end.

August 1999..........
Welcome to my website!

Beyond Beadery's website is currently undergoing some major renovations!

We are in the process of moving to our own domain name and adding a shopping basket and secure server for your convenience. During our renovation process, website updates will be put on hold. The monthly giveaway contest is temporarily on pause, but will be back online when we move to the new server.

Thank you for your patience!

Our customers deserve the best, and we hope the new website will better serve your needs.

1998

I went through BIG, FAT, MAJOR changes last year - in my opinion, for the better, but drastic moves nontheless. After 11 years of having the store in Woodstock, I decided it was time to head back to the Rockies and let go of the store. 7 days a week, day in and day out, for years on end can really age a woman! Besides, I got into the business because I wanted to be a BEAD ARTIST - somehow, instead, I found myself turning into a (gulp) Businesswoman! Now, my Momma didn't raise me to be a businesswoman - in my family, you went to Art School (of course, my oldest brother had to go and buck the system by going to Law School... but that's another story).

Anyway, to make a long story short (which is next to impossible with my gift of gab), here I am, sitting at my computer AT HOME (yay!!) where I can look out the window and watch the Stellar's Jays and Ravens against the most drop-dead gorgeous background one could possibly imagine. Every evening I can watch the sun set over the snow-covered Continental Divide...ahhhhhh... life is good, my friends.

I thought a new location also deserved a new look for Beyond Beadery. I hope you enjoy browsing through the online catalog.

Whether placing an order from the website or from our catalog, I hope you find just what you need and enjoy yourself at the same time. Please read the ordering info page before placing your order. As ever, we pride ourselves on our speedy service - all orders are sent out within 24 hours of receiving them (except weekends and holidays, of course) - so, calling or faxing in your order will result in quicker results than mailing it in. We're here to take your order Monday through Thursday from 9 to 5 (that's Mountain Standard Time, folks! I can't tell you how many 7 am phone calls we've gotten since we moved to Colorado!). Of course, you can fax or e-mail your order at any time.

Well, I no longer have a store, but if you do happen to find yourself heading out to Colorado, feel free to give me a call and stop by! I'll have to meet you in "Downtown" Rollinsville (population 200, elevation 9,000) - you'll never find us otherwise! We're about 45 minutes west of Boulder, right smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

Because we're now such a small company (just me and my husband, bless his heart), there will be a few occasions that no one will be here to take your order. But I'll always try to let y'all know in advance, and have a message on my answering machine to alert you to "days off" as well.

That's all I can think of for now - feel free to call me if you have any questions (but not at 7 am, heehee)!

Let me say that it's a pleasure to be in the business I am in - to be surrounded by beautiful beads all day, every day - I'm one lucky woman! I know there are many bead companies out there to choose from, so I appreciate your business.

BEAD TO LIVE - LIVE TO BEAD!