Bead Center

I’d come across Bead Center from a fairly lengthy search on where to find .5mm chinese knotting cord in NYC. I gave BC a call asking if they sell ckc and what the prices were. The man that answered the phone was very helpful (and seemed happy to do so) and proceeded to ask me to come in and take a look, which I was 100% planning on doing. And did!
I walked in, incredibly overwhelmed by the vast selection of necklaces, beads, connectors, jewelry making supplies GALORE. It was absolute Heaven for me. It took me a bit to get to what I came for, as I wanted to be sure to give everything a good look before I spent all of my money on the cord. Once I reached the cording section, I was overwhelmed with the selection. They literally had everything that I’d ever need. I picked up two spools of ckc and afterward asked about buying it by the yard, to which was another large area full of cording by the yard and more. An employee stood by while I picked my colours and she cut them all and put them into baggies for me with the prices written on them. The ckc is $.50 per yard and I got 4 yards of 4 colours. They seemed to have varying sizes of the cording but they weren’t listed so I had to hope and guess that the one I picked was the .5mm I had hoped for (or at most .8mm). I’d also grabbed an embroidery needle but unfortunately, realized I’d picked a size too small for the ckc. However, it worked with the hemp cording that I’d purchased from Michae’s the previous day. It broke upon trying to pull it through a tight knot which makes me question its quality. It was only $ 1.50 so I’m not terribly worried but regardless of how cheap it was, no one wants to waste their money on a weak product.
I will 110% be returning for more ckc as well as lots of other things. This place is officially my stop for all jewelry making supplies, no more dealing with unknowledgeable Michael’s employees.

Large selection of beads. One of us were able to find certain type of beads that couldn’t be found elsewhere. As for the prices, they were a bit more expensive. Decent customer service.

Pros: I only shop at this place for certain beads and supplies. Bright, clean atmosphere. Great bead and supply selection.
Cons: The prices are a little on the high side. The employees follow you around in the store.

I only use this place if I am making ‘made-​to-​order pieces’. Yes they follow you… but you can buy individual or bulk depending on what you need. Don’t look for customer service, they mostly don’t speak English.

They don’t have all seed beads most often but they got so much for healthy making like pendants and chandeliers. I felt like they are trying to help as you shop.

Want to be watched while you shop?
Want to be followed while you shop?
Then come here! This place is perfect if you want to feel like a shoplifter.
Bead Center is my absolute dead last option if I don’t want to go to a wholesale bead store. They have a ton of beads and you can buy them individually, by the strand or by the gross. The beads are suuupper expensive, but that’s because I’m used to purchasing wholesale.
If you’re shopping in a corner too long someone will hover behind you, making sure you aren’t stealing the overpriced beads. When you leave the spot several people will come over to see what you have stolen. It’s great.

Awful business with terrible customer service. Unpleasant and terribly rude Chinese owner.
I buy for a buisness, meaning I buy large wholesale quanties on a recurrent basis. As such, I think I’m a valued customer because I regularly buy such large volumes, but all I encountered was a rude and insulting attitude.
— Non-​existant wholesale policies. I wanted to buy ALL their stock of one bead, which is considerable amount. When one buys alot, there is ALWAYS a discount called wholesale pricing since you’re buying so much. Attempted to negotiate down to get some sort of discount due to volume. Completely UNWILLING to negotiate below retail and extremely rude. Seriously guys? They have no idea how to do business-​to-​buisness sales!
— Mislabeled prices on products. Really guys, c’mon? Customers make purchasing decisions based on price. Initially they refused to honor this listed price caused by their error and wanted to charge me 3x times more. I had to vehemently argue with the unpleasant owner to simply get them to honor this listed retail price. They tried to make me feel like they were doing me a favor, when they could have earned considerable goodwill, repeat business and shown good customer service by honoring it without argument.
Want to buy beads? Take your business elsewhere. I’d highly recommend John F Allen, Beads World and Toho Shoji for stellar customer service and good wholesale pricing.