Beads of Paradise

They fixed my favorite necklace after it broke for a very reasonable price, and I found some beautiful beads to make into earrings while I was there! When you take into account the neighborhood they’re in, it’s really affordable! The people who work there are the nicest folks in town.

the only place i will go to sicne discovering it about 4 yrs ago. they have doe a great job fixing my jewlery.
Emily is amazing. We worked tgether for 50ish mins performing sucesssful «surgery» on my necklace. I ened up leaving with a fixed necklace and matching earrings.
only cost 30.00!!!

I needed a gold chain repaired and the saleswoman did a great job for a reasonable price.
Didn’t have a chance to check out their other offerings, but this place is great for some exotic and beautiful jewelry items.

One of the most aesthetically pleasing stores in union square. I have been coming here since I was a very young girl. They have amazing jewelry from all over Asia. Coming here is basically a dream

This place is so beautiful. Lots of color and beautiful charms, beads. I stumbled upon it accidentally but I will return.

Very professional and taught me something for next time. A little pricey for this 30-​second repair ($ 13, incl tax), but if you amortize it over how often I wear this elastic, beaded bracelet, well worth it.

I’d read such wonderful reviews about this place that I was excited about going down to Union Sq to find some unusual pieces for my jewelry designs. There were a few interesting pieces, but nothing I couldn’t get somewhere else at a much more reasonable price. Now I do understand that they are paying Union Square rents so they have to charge more for their merchandise. But it was literally 5−10x more for some of the African beads that I was looking for. I specifically called ahead of time to ask if they had brass lost wax beads. The cool dude who answered the phone told me that Beads of Paradise was known for their African beads and yes they had brass lost wax beads. Either some rival African jewelry designer beat me to it in the 45 mins it took me to get from Harlem to Union Sq or he had NO CLUE as to what I was talking about.
I ended up going up to the Bronx to buy from my usual bead dealer from Ghana to get what I was looking for. (At a very reasonable price I might add. I mean literally a strand of trade beads was $ 28 in Beads of Paradise and I paid $ 8 for a longer strand.)
I was impressed with the hand crafted design pieces their students made that are on sale in the front of the store. So much so, I may take a class or two to refine my own techniques. Really superior work and craftsmanship. I may come back and buy a few birthday presents. The staff was super helpful, nice and engaging, but I was reluctant to engage with them once I realized that I could get what I wanted at much lower prices.

I agree with many of the comments in the last review. This place is a «hidden GEM» for NYC! I don’t live in NY anymore, but this is my first stop when I visit!
I’m the type that likes unique items that I cannot find anywhere else — and Beads of Paradise continues to surprise me! Unlike the other city ‘bead shops,’ they sell gem quality stones individually so if I want to make a pair of earrings for a gift, I can buy just two beautiful stones (rubies, emeralds, sapphires!) :). Other places just sell by the strand — and I can’t really splurge on a strand of gem-​quality sapphires — BOP lets me buy just the ones I need!
People have left reviews talking about the pricing… Sure. If you can order gold/​silver wholesale. Why would you criticize a small retail store selling in small quantities? I do order wholesale — but if I need to buy smaller quantities of findings or need something asap they have it!
Now the employees… They have the best customer service I have ever seen! I’ve been working with several of them for years (There’s a reason a company retains employees.) and I’ve never seen a company devoted so much to customer service. As others have said, this is a store that has (almost) everything, and what they don’t have, they WILL FIND FOR YOU! As I mentioned, I don’t live in NY full time anymore, and I am not able to go ‘hunting’ for items I need most of the time. I can just email Beads of Paradise what I’m looking for and they find it for me! They always do! And they always are priced well for what I’m looking for :)
I’ve taken up too much ‘Yelp space’ so I won’t even go into how much other amazing stuff they carry — but it is more than worth stopping in to look at! If you’re looking to ‘buy wire in bulk’ — then go shop somewhere that sells ‘wire in bulk’. This store is so much more than ‘Michael’s’ and offers so much creative inspiration.
I recommend this place to designers, artists, gift-​givers, jewelry designers (small and large), and anyone that creates and cares about wonderful small businesses!

This a great place with a wide selection of South Asian beads, amulets, shawls, figurines, jewelry and sculptures. The place radiates such colors and positive energy.
We have used them for repairs on our jewelry for many years and every time a piece comes back perfect, good as new. The staff is very knowledge about the array of goods and is patient in helping customers. Its location is picture perfect, just off Union Square. It is a one-​of-​a-​kind store with one-​of-​a-​kind help in a perfect location. Please visit. I think you will really love it as much as our family does.

i LOVE this shop! Their salespeople are very calm, helpful, knowledgeable and warm. They have a great selection of unusual stones, beads, artifacts, textiles, and other imports. I LOVE THIS PLACE! I have been a beader for 14 years. I read some of the other reviews — which commented on their pricey-​ness– well, I would say that there are some things I would get elsewhere– you have to know your sources, and resources. There are things here in Beads of Paradise, that won’t find elsewhere– or you’ll spend all day looking. At times, they negotiate if you are buying in bulk. They are one of the last stand-​outs for their generation of this type of shop.
In addition, if you are searching for something specific, they will go out of their way to help. I live an hour from NYC, and have emailed them photos of something I’m looking for– and they hunt around. If someone is comparing prices, they must compare the price for the quality too. They do NOT sell cheap stuff– or poor quality stuff, so I think if you are comparing prices on this quality, and not buying in huge bulk, then they really aren’t expensive.
Support their shop so they can stay!

They do have nice things, but the place is ridiculously overpriced. If you look hard you can find the same items for much cheaper. It’s a nice place to go look around, because they do have interesting things. If you don’t mind spending at least triple what an item is worth then you might really like this place. If you are looking for reasonably priced beads, this is not the place for you.

A «must» for browsing in Union Square. Their beads are overpriced, but they are the real thing. Many bead stores in the Bead District in the 30’s sell fake or imitation stones, so their prices can be lower. Still, you can do better at the Bead Shows in March and October at the Metropolitan. Many fascinating ethnic artifacts and accessories– a great gift shop! The sales staff have been friendly and helpful. I did take a jewelry making class here once, and would not take another, as the instructor was uninspired and seemed unhappy about having to teach the class. On the whole, though, I like the place, and it is convenient to pick up findings, thread, etc. without having to trot uptown.

i was on a mission this past sunday in search of an amber teething necklace for my nephew that cant stop crying from teething. amber, with its energies and power, is said to sooth pain. the normal store i go to for healing stores, stick stone bone in west village, didn’t have what i was looking for but the lady working that day was nice enough to recommend beads of paradise to me, just a 10 minute walk located by union square.
TIP: this place has an amazing selection of raw beads on string that you can quickly turn into jewelry. when doing so, ask for john to help you. he was honestly one of the most helpful store associates ive ever encountered. he helped me from start to finish in picking out the right amber, providing me with an array of materials to use and was so patient when i kept changing my mind (while getting approval from my sister on the phone!!) i was so happy with the finished product, he ended up knotting together a bunch of meditation beads and amber stones i strung into a really cool necklace (see my photo for reference)
thank you john!

Took a bunch of costume jewelry with broken clasps and various broken bits. They fixed them right away for me, meanwhile explaining by what methods and charged me peanuts. The shop looks great and very inspirational and I will be taking their classes.

Fantastic bead shop and they do jewelry repair too! I had an old glass bead necklace that I needed to restring and they did it quickly all for the cost of $ 3.00. What would have cost $ 20.00 in a traditional repair store was ¹⁄₁₀^th of the price. They are super knowledgeable about the history of jewelry and stones and have samples from all over the world! Next time I’m bringing then my afghani necklace to restring and rebead!

The arts and crafts gods have descended upon us through this welcoming and exquisite beaded portal. Try to resist the urge to finger through string upon string of turquoise, marcasite, and pearl gems for an entire day. Or don’t resist. Pause long enough to have them walk you through repairing your own costume jewelry for essentially pennies. Honestly, I fixed my earrings for under $ 3. I was left feeling like I got away with something.
Choose a chain, pick a pendulum and create your own craft in just a few minutes for much less than it’d cost you if you bought the same thing from say, Anthropologie. Give in. Beads are cascading from the ceilings, swaths of exotic fabrics adorn the walls, everywhere your eyes chance upon is met with breath-​taking beauty. Come into this place and be transformed.

Can I tell you how much I love this store. I’ be been dropping by here for years. Back when I was doing the tribal necklace thing, and now with the beaded bracelets. The vibe is pretty funky. There is no shortage of color anywhere you look. Sometimes I just stop by to wander a bit and look at their wares. If you’re looking for a gift idea, you can do a lot worse than stop by for a peek.

This store has a profusion of color; when you walk in, it’s like something out of a fantasy — and if you’re obsessed with red (as I am), you’ll be in «heaven». For those of you who make your own jewelry (I don’t), the selection of beads at this store is terrific — but if you’re only interested in buying, my personal feeling is that there’s very little of interest. In terms of the sales people, the young woman near the entrance never said a word to me — although two of the women at the back asked if I needed any help.

Entering the store, I felt like I’d stepped into a different country. The brightly lit, cozily cluttered store brimming with beads and jewelry and random accessories and knickknacks reminded me of bazaars in Cambodia and Malaysia. It was an explosion of color.
They sell mostly beads (surprise!); the back room had display cases filled with little dishes of beads in all sizes and shapes and colors.
The staff was very attentive. I was asked a few times by different ppl if I needed help (no thanks just browsing) .
I’d gone in on the off chance that they’d have something suitable for a bachelorette party, even though the place looked too classy for that. When I finally did ask someone who worked there (how do you say penises without saying penises?), he looked understandably confused. He did direct me to some brightly colored beads and also pointed out some cheaper selections if I had to buy large quantities. Super helpful, without being pushy about selling.
Didn’t leave with anything – even though they had really cute bags! But will definitely be back for artsy-​crafty purposes or if I need to pick up some Southeast Asia-​esque souvenirs for forgotten friends.

COLORFUL! This is a word that I can describe Beads of Paradise.
I have been passing by this place for years and haven’t walked in. From the outside you can see all the handmade objects and necklaces in the window. Once you step through the doors. It’s like you are somewhere else.
You surrounded by tons of beads, necklaces, charms, bracelets and even accessories. If you are a crafter, you will DEFINITELY love this store. You will see a lot of handmade crafts such as wallets and keychains. Further in the back you see beads where you can buy per pack or individually. I even saw people doing crafts there and just relaxing. At the far wall you will see an assortment of Day of the Dead figurines. Really cool.
All in all it’s a great shop with a good location right near Union Square. I wasn’t sure if I could take pics so I didn’t want to ruin the mood. I will try and take some next time.