Lavaliere Sterling & Stones

This is a good store, but it is closing in two weeks. Get there while you can. In the past I bought a lot of semi precious beads and coral from here. As well as Swarovski (sp?) crystals, sterling and gold filled findings. They have a box for you you to leave your email address so they can let you know what their new location will be. Why are they closing??? Because the RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH… sigh…

I stopped in a few stores in the area looking specifically for charms and I was surprised by how many they carried! They have a pretty big selection at a good price ($ 1.75/piece). The only downfall is that they’re crammed together on shelves in the back and can be hard to look through.

Let me preface by saying I don’t bead, make jewelry, consider myself crafty. What I did need was a personalized charm bracelet for my daughter. Based on other reviews and a coworkers recommendation I headed to Lavaliere after work. Very easy to find but don’t be tempted to enter a neighboring store. This IS the place to go. Immediately greeted by helpful employees who wanted to help me. I know, a rare commodity these days.
They searches high and low finding all the little trinkets I want on this bracelet. Everything from a Penguin, Hot Air balloon, chefs apron to a blender! You name it, they have it! I actually had so much fun by the time I looked at my watch 1 & ½hrs went right by.
Best part, they even worked with me to assemble the bracelet! I couldn’t be happier with how perfect it turned out!

I wanted to make a personal farewell present for a bff. I thought a charm bracelet would be perfect, and this shop fit the bill. I visited a few other bead shops on the way here, but Lavaliere had the most charm selection by far. It’s not jewelry store quality like those that charge $ 30 a charm. I think most of these are pewter and silver and fall in the $ 1.5-$ 3 range. However, they have hundreds of charms, so you can find nearly anything you could imagine and have a lot of fun. For example I bought: a steamboat, chicken drumstick, taxi cab, angel wings, letters for initials, and several more.
You have to buy a minimum of 12″ for the chain, and they will cut it to size. There was also a surcharge to put all the charms and clasp on the chain. I really liked how everything is out for you to select, and no one is hovering as you browse. I think overall it was $ 30 for about 9 charms, the chain, and clasp.
My only caution is it took quite some time for the woman that day to put all the charms on the bracelet, and a couple were not spaced out evenly. I ended up fixing a few on my own at home with small pliers. I went during lunch and expected to be in and out of there rather quickly. The attachment of the charms took at least 30min, which had I known in advance, I would’ve just returned for at a later time. Maybe it’s because I picked 9 charms, but if you’re somewhat handy and have small pliers, you could even do it yourself at home. That’s probably what I’ll do next time and save a few $ on the surcharge.

Out of more than seven stores I visited in the general area, Lavaliere was the only one that carried evil eye beads — and not just one, but several versions. I was frantically looking for a culturally relevant «something blue» for a friend’s wedding, so this was a huge lifesaver.
Their selection of findings isn’t as large as some other stores I’ve seen, but still, Lavaliere is a great store with kind, knowledgeable staff. I’d recommend it, especially if you’re looking for something hard to find!

I just opened up a jewelry shop on Etsy and was in the market for some interesting findings. Lavaliere was one of the highest rated wholesale bead stores that I searched on Unilocal,so it was my first stop. The only good thing about this place is that it stays open later than all the other (7:20pm to be exact– from the shop owner). First of all, the stuff in here is overpriced and most of it is so dirty an dusty. I don’t mind finding a real gem in the rough, but this was just rough in the rough. There are better bead places around, although they did have a decent selection of swarovski. Still, not the cheapest.

As someone new to jewelry design, I did a lot of searching to find the right quality and unique pieces. Boy is this the place! The findings here are amazing and such great quality. They have specific items that literally I went to at least a dozen places to find in the city and they are the only ones that carry what I need. The prices are a little higher then the neighboring stores but its well worth it. The staff is also very nice and accommodating. I purchased the wrong item one of my first times shopping here. The lovely woman remembered my face and let me do an exchange. Customer service is a really big selling point to me and that put the stamp on it for me. Highly recommend.

I love this store! I’m a jewelry designer who runs a small boutique down in NoHo, so I shop frequently for supplies (at least a few times a month). I always go by Lavaliere – while some of their beads cost more than other places, they have a great selection and I can find a few things here that I can’t find anywhere else (gorgeous green onyx strands, for instance). They also have the best selection of gold filled and sterling silver charms and components of anywhere in NYC – a selection that is also very reasonably priced. I also sometimes get my sterling chain here. They are currently out of the chain I like the best, but it’s worth taking a look at the selection if you’re in the market for some sterling or gold filled chain. The staff is also super friendly and helpful, so don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions!

I’m a self-​taught jewelry artisan that ran out of some wire one day and this was the only place around that had half hard sterling silver wire in 20 gauge. It was a lifesaver since no other stores in the area carried it, and I really needed it. However, the cost was what took off a star: I paid DOUBLE the silver price at the time (ouch). So needless to say, I’d only come to this store for emergency shopping only.

One of the nicest jewelry customizing stores (wholesale or retail) in the district. First off, we made sure to shop around first to compare prices and the prices here are reasonable. Other stores were really expensive and not worth it. Watch out for stores that have really expensive products and offer a discount. They just jack up the price so that with the discount, it may seem cheaper but it isn’t. Lavaliere offers prices true to the
products.
Every so often Lavaliere has discounts off certain products (i.e. 30% off all charms). Be sure to always ask and they are always up for bargaining only if you’re purchasing a great amount.
What I love most about this store is your ability to customize anything. They offer a service of creating necklaces, bracelets, etc. for you. Just find the parts, tell them how you would like to put it together and they’ll be happy to do it for you. If you don’t know how the whole process works, they would love to explain it to you or walk you through the process. IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a fee for this service – $ 6 for labor. Even so, a customized charm bracelet can be really cheap. It really depends on how many charms you chose and the type of chain you wanted (sterling silver is more pricey than regular chains). IMPORTANT NOTE: Chains have a purchase minimum of 1 foot, which is a good length for two bracelets, which was what my friend did. My friend customized a great bracelet for her liking and made the left over chain into a simple bracelet all for about $ 15. Another friend chose a sterling silver chain and her total was around $ 30.
When browsing around the charms, it maybe very overwhelming since they have so many. A quick way to find what you are looking for is to ask for the catalogue/​brochure listing all the charms. If you see a charm you’re interested in, look up its number and then find the appropriate box (all the boxes have their own number matching the one in the catalogue). Note: There are more charms located beneath the top, displayed trays.
As for the service, they were very friendly. If you’re loyal customers interested in their store and purchase a wide variety of products, they will you many quirks. For example, for both of my friends, they didn’t charge us the labor/​service fee when customizing their charm bracelets.
Even though we were tourists, they treated us well. I got their business card so when I come back, I’ll be prepared to create my own charm bracelet as well (this trip I only purchase 2 pendants and a few metal headbands – which were very comfortable, fashionable even when plain, and cheap – $ 2 each).
I will make sure I recommend this place to friends whenever they visit New York.

agree with other commenters on the prices here, they are definitely not as competitive as some of the other bead shacks on 6^th ave. However, I think the quality you get here is above and beyond most of those other stores in the area. They have a great — and in my mind unparalleled — collection of gold fill charms which are not going to be cheap, but that’s because of the rising price of gold! I found things here that I was looking for and had been in 7 stores previous with no luck. I find the staff to be helpful and consistently friendly without some of the sketchiness prevalent in the other neighboring shops. This, along with Tohi Shoji, have become the only stores I really want to do business with!

Oy vey. The L. and I recently made the rounds of five or more bead shops in this neighborhood. After two they all started to really look the same. Unfortunately many independently owned bead shops in the smaller towns are being driven out of business by the likes of Michael’s which is a shame. One would hardly receive the same level of service (or scrutinization, LOL) at a large chain. But at one of these shops, especially Lavaliere, I received excellent customer service. I think I went into some kind of trance being surrounded by their offerings as I recall being overwhelmed in a good way. I found some super groovy round beads made from lava. Their Swarovski display was almost too much for me to bear! Sparklie bling! :)))
Being one of the two shops that day that I would return to, Lavaliere has made a fan out of me.
This song rocked on SYTYCD.

Don’t go there if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. The sales staff are very helpful but also stealthy on the upsell. I keep going back because they have a complete selection of Naturseide silk beading cord in every size and color for the cheapest price i’ve found in the area ($ 2 each). They also have some nice beads but they seem overpriced to me. Don’t go in expecting to spend less than $ 30.

I love Lavaliere because of the quality of their products.
There are certain things you can skimp on, findings are not one of them. If I want head pins or earring hooks that won’t rust in a couple of months, I come here.
They also have an extensive collection of novelty chains, swarovski crystals and beads.
I find their findings to be higher quality and more delicate than what’s available in the surrounding stores. It is very slightly more expensive, but I will gladly pay that price to end up with jewelry that remains wearable.

I’m a beginner to jewelry makings. So this isnt an expert opinion.
I happened upon this store while walking down the block. They had a sign on the window that Beadalon wire was on sale– I needed some and a sale is always good. I found the selection of beading wire to be good. They have a lot of larger beads. The color selection and variety of sizes wasnt that great. (I’m partial to Ebay for beads) I did find some good sets in the sale section.
The store is open and everything can be easily viewed– so you dont feel like you’re being stalked by the sales people.
You dont have to ask for things stored behind counters.
Addt’l bonus– They had simple black two holed beads.

It’s interesting that Lavaliere markets itself as upscale in an area where there are tons of similar jewelry/​craft stores with much larger selections and much lower prices. The inside of the store is attractive but has only a minimalist selection of beads and stones.
Lavaliere gets upped an extra half star from 1.5 because they were the only store that had opalite in the exact shape and hue that I wanted– and I went around to Toho Shoji, Beads World, New York Beads, Fun 2 Bead, and Genuine Ten Ten (only one or two of which even had any opalite at all), all before stumbling into Lavaliere. But, that’s mostly coincidence, since it’s not like their opalite selection was any bigger than the places that happened to carry the wrong shape. Barring future highly-​specific but failed excursions to all these other places, I probably won’t be finding myself in here again.