Shipwreck Beads in Lacey is a jewelry maker’s dream. For designers and crafters, local and worldwide, the enormous showroom and warehouse carries every imaginable style of bead and jewelry-making material and tool.
A few months ago, the store created its Treasure Cove section, chock full of higher-end semi-precious stones. From amethyst to jade, lapis to fluorite, if you’re looking for semi-precious baubles to use in your creations, get yourself quickly to Shipwreck Beads’ Treasure Cove.
General Manager Douglas ‘Buck’ Boling grew up with Shipwreck Beads CEO Glenn Vincent and has been with the store for nearly 27 years.
“I went to Alaska after I got out of the Army, but I came back here in 1985 because Glenn asked if I wanted to get in on the ground floor of Shipwreck Beads,” he says. The store had originally been called Shipwreck, a nautical-themed gift and antique store, created by Glenn’s parents in 1969.
“I started as his only employee – there were three of us: Lisa [Vincent, Glenn’s wife], Glenn, and me,” says Douglas. “We were in an 800-square-foot shack in Mud Bay. Slowly but surely, the staff grew and the store moved to a larger location. It’s now in a truly cavernous building with a 22,000-square-foot showroom and a total of 80,000 square feet of storage, work, and display space.
“We boggle minds,” Douglas says of the reaction to the enormous space. “People who come in here the first time, their jaw drops.”
The growth of the store – and its popularity far and wide, thanks to an extensive website and catalog orders – is the result of years of hard work by Glenn, Lisa, Douglas, and the rest of the Shipwreck Beads team. “For many years, Glenn and I spent three to six months of the year on the road, going to shows,” says Douglas.
One of those shows was the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, an incredibly popular industry event, which Shipwreck Beads attended as a vendor for many years. “We don’t do the show anymore, but we still go there as a buyer,” says Douglas.
It was some of the haul from this year’s show that helped inspire Shipwreck Beads’ new Treasure Cove section.
“In Tucson, we found a line of higher-end pewter called TierraCast,” says Douglas. “It’s very polished, two-sided, very nice.”
The Shipwreck Beads buyers also bought a vast selection of freshwater pearls and high-grade, semi-precious stones. “After Tucson, we probably added somewhere close to 1,000 new items,” Douglas says.
The Treasure Cove is located just to the left as you enter the gigantic store.
“That was a book nook before,” Douglas explains. “We removed a wall, brought in the cases, and installed track lighting.” The goal is to feature these higher-end materials in such a way that they can be truly appreciated.
Douglas says the Treasure Cove has been very well received. “There’s a lot of excitement about it – with our employees as well as our customers. Many of our regular customers stop there first every time they come in.”
One frequent Shipwreck Beads patron had been asking the store to bring in such higher-quality stones for years. Judging by her response alone, the move has been a success. “She’s been in here four times in three months and dropped $500 each time,” Douglas says with a laugh. “She’s a creator, a designer, and makes beautiful stuff. And she’s very happy with it.”
There’s a wide range of prices and products in the Treasure Cove: malachite, citrine, turquoise, ruby, jasper, and amber. The list goes on and on. Gorgeous items are available to fit budgets high and low.
These higher-end, high-grade semi-precious stones, coupled with the store’s sterling silver findings, tools, and other items necessary to create custom jewelry – Shipwreck Beads also sells how-to books and DVDs – mean designers can now make (and sell) boutique-quality pieces.
“I recently made a necklace and matching pair of earrings for one of my daughters with large citrine beads from the Treasure Cove,” says Douglas. “In a boutique, you would have paid $200 or $300 for those pieces. I made them for $60.”
Visit Shipwreck Beads and checkout the Treasure Cove. You can also visit their website or Facebook page to keep up on the latest news at this massive bead marketplace.
Shipwreck Beads
8560 Commerce Place SE
Lacey WA 98516
360-754-2323
