Hi,

Well 4th of July is upon us and we will be modifiying the store hours for a few days…

Thursday and Friday (July 2nd and 3rd)  11 – 3

Saturday and Sunday (July 4th and 5th)  CLOSED

Back to our normal hours on Monday the 6th 11 – 6

Thanks!

Okay, so I’ve been meaning to do this blog for a while now and it’s now time.  I want to share something that is near and dear to my heart… a passion really and that is the passion to share what I have learned and to share information… the subject?   The Gem Shows.

We have all been to at least one, heck, even I used to go many years ago but things have changed.  As I tell all my basic beading students “go to the show but the first day you leave your credit cards, cash and checks all at home, go back the second day then you may buy”.  Why do I say this?  Because I care about you and your pocket book.  Are there great things at the gem shows? Yes.  Do you need to know what you want? Yes.  Do you need to be careful?  Yes.

Why do I say these things?  Well here’s why.  I was talking to another bead store owner a few weeks ago and he was telling me that he and his wife went to their local gem show several months ago just to check it out and see what was happening.  This is what they found.  There was a vendor with a HUGE 80% off sign and a mob of people around the table.  My friend went up to the table and looked at a strand of potato pearls priced at $85 per strand.  With an 80% discount that would make the strand $17.  Wow what a deal… right????  Well, no.  He and I have sold that EXACT same strand of pearls for $11.95 in our stores.

What is the lesson?  Yes, you can find some cool things at the gem show and your Local Bead Store (LBS) cannot carry everything BUT your LBS can be an even greater savings to you than the gem shows.  Support your LBS and your other local family owned businesses you may be surprised at what you find….

okay, I’m done.  Whew, thanks for letting me rant.  *grin*

Okay, so of course a few things have changed and I want to clarify a few items as well…

1.  I went shopping and have a HUGE selection of Semi-Precious for you to choose from and of course at great prices.  Those who have had a sneak peak told us flatly that we are not charging enough.  Well, maybe I’m not but this is a celebration isn’t it?

2.  I will be doing Image Transfer demonstrations on Saturday:  Those times will be 11:45 and 1:30

3.  On Sunday I can only do 11:30 and 1:30 for Image Transfer… I have a baby shower to go to!

4.  I realized that I felt sorry for the base metal section and since we all use so much of it in our creations, I’m going to put that on sale:  15% discount on all bulk base metal and plated chain… yes, you read that right, an additional 15% off of bulk base metal and plated chain… there, that’s nice now isn’t it (this is not to be combined with the hourly discounts…)

5.  Don’t forget, resin pendants and wood pendants are also included in the sale… well I’ll just have a list of everything that you can buy with our sale!  You’re gonna have fun cause we are!

6.  For all the other details on the sale see my original post below.

See you then…

p.s. Fine Silver Fusing Demos will only be done on Saturday not on Sunday and I’m waiting to confirm that Janet Pitcher will be here Sunday for a $5 make and take… call Saturday for confirmation if you want to do this.  I think she was thinking 2 pm.  619-460-2323

Well summer is here and that means the La Mesa Car Show is back! Due to limited parking for our customers we have shortened our hours on Thursday. We will be open from 11am – 3pm on Thursdays beginning June 4th until August 27th. For more information about the car show visit the La Mesa Village website at www.lmvma.com