Beading business in Phoenixville

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The Potomac Bead Company, located at 167 Bridge Street, is the jewelry crafter’s dream shop. The walls of the two-story loft are lined with a rainbow of colorful strands of beads—gemstones, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and festive lampwork glass. Bins around the store are piled high with beads and the metal pieces, called findings, that go between them in all shapes, sizes, colors and materials, priced sometimes by the bead or often by weight.

“We’re the largest bead store in the area,” said owner Connie Woods, who opened the shop in April. Woods first discovered beading three years ago when worked as an editor at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. A coworker came into work with a dazzling beaded bracelet and Woods had to know where she got it. When the coworker explained that she made it herself, Woods was incredulous. “She took me bead shopping and I never looked back,” Woods said.

Beading quickly became one of her favorite hobbies because it was flexible, versatile, and granted her instant gratification. “I don’t like waiting for things. I can make a bracelet in a few hours,” she said. “Also, you can make it as expensive or inexpensive as you like, depending on the materials you choose.”

Woods turned her hobby into a career last November, when she quit Wyeth to open this branch of the Potomac Bead Company franchise with her husband Antonio in downtown Phoenixville. It is a small chain, with eight locations across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida, and one in Glasgow, Scotland.

“Me and my husband talked about owning our own business for 10 years. We’re independent, but there are corporate rules to follow.” Owning her own franchise has helped Woods kick off a full calendar of programs at her shop, with classes nearly every day for both beginners (Basic Beading 101) and experienced beaders (Wire Wrapping and Fusing Dichroic Glass Pendants). The shop also offers private jewelry-making events, such as birthday parties and BYOB bridal showers. This isn’t just a store for the ladies, however.

Although most men who enter her store spend more time looking at the architecture than the beads inside, according to Woods, “We have a fly-fisherman who comes in and selects shiny beads to make lures. Now my husband is thinking about starting a men’s class.”

In addition to taking classes and buying materials, beaders can pay a $2 table fee to come in and work on their own projects with the added resources and expertise of Woods and her trained beading staff. The shop also does basic repairs, like restringing and replacing clasps, and sells their own hand-made necklaces, bracelets, and earrings crafted from supplies found right in the store.

“I really enjoy watching people come in who think they can’t do it, then take a beading class and look totally happy,” Woods said. In addition to instructing customers, Woods was responsible for training her six-person staff, including her friend and store manager Arlene Diaz.

“The most I do here is have fun,” said Diaz, a former secretary at Wyeth, who was paying the bills with temporary work for two years until Connie invited her to work in the store. “Connie had me come in and make a necklace and a bracelet and I was hooked. I fell in love with his, even if I didn’t come to work for her!” Most of all, Diaz loves having a job that allows her to be creative. “Being a secretary, I never got a chance to use that artistic side of myself. I used to paint a little but I never really had time. Beading is a quick art that you can wear when you’re done.”

While spreading that creative spark to their customers, Woods and Diaz have noticed that in the three short months they have been open, they’ve developed a beading community in Phoenixville including a dedicated group of regulars. “I have met some really cool people,” Woods said. “I had no idea there was such an artist community here.”

Woods is planning some big events in the future. In the late Fall, she’d like to start a beader’s club where people can socialize and work on projects together. She also hopes to collaborate with Kathy Bestwick at the Phoenix Village Art Center, and possibly also with Marilyn Gural at The Knitting Basket on Nutt Road. Next summer, she’d even like to start a beading camp where parents can drop their kids off for a few hours and pick them up with a finished project.

“Children love the novelty beads,” Woods said, pointing out a collection of glass beads shaped like cats, turtles, fish, and produce.

The Potomac Bead Company. 167 Bridge St., Suite 200. http://www.potomacbeads.com.