Beads and More is a polished gem in Pacific Beach.
So say crafters about the bead shop owned by Julia and Juan Candillo who met there and have been caretakers of the establishment for 24 of its 30 years at 4150 Mission Blvd.
The Candillo’s store is near The Flamingo in the Promenade At Pacific Beach mall. Beads and More is one of the ground-level tenants in the 80,000-square-foot shopping center that features boutiques, office space, and restaurants.
“We’re the oldest store in the mall now,” said bead-hobbyist-turned-pro Julia Candillo. “I was in my 20s and someone brought me to this bead store to start a hobby. I immediately fell in love with beading.”
Julia was beading so much there the previous owners offered her a job as manager. Later, they offered to sell her the store. “They just kept asking me questions – and I kept saying yes,” she said laughing.
Julia said people are drawn to beading for a host of reasons.
“It’s good therapy,” she said. “It’s a very satisfying craft. It’s a craft that doesn’t have to take a long amount of time. A piece of jewelry can take (only) a few minutes – or months – if you want it to.”
Jewelry making is also an ancient art. “They always find stuff in caves that’s 100,000-plus years old that people adorned themselves with made of bone or shells,” pointed out Juan. “Archaeologists say that was the first thing that human beings ever did that wasn’t necessary for living.”
“And it never gets old,” contended Julia. “There’s always a different bead, a different style, and fashion. There’s always a new trend. It keeps evolving so it’s still always fun.”
“There are beads from all over the world, every country, every state,” noted Juan.
Beads can be made out of just about anything: glass, bone, stone, seeds, even wood.
Beads and More is set up “so that you can make your own jewelry here,” noted Julia adding, “You don’t need a class. We just measure you and you go around with a tray and you build what you want to make in the tray,”
“There’s not a lot of bead stores that do that, most just sell beads,” pointed out Juan. He noted their customer base includes tourists who “discover” Beads and More one year and continue to return. “We saw them as a kid and now they have kids and they bring them here whenever they’re vacationing,” he noted.
Beading gives people, especially kids, a sense of identity. “Kids have something they can wear to school all the time that they made themselves,” said Juan. “It’s not just something they bought when they were on vacation.”
Julia said they sell beads by the piece and the strand. The cost of beads starts at 5 cents and goes up according to their size and material. You can also make bead jewelry for less than you can purchase it.
Bead crafters come in all categories and ages. But kids are among the Candillos’ favorite customers. “They’re a fun-type customer,” said Julia. “Especially a little kid who wants one of every cool bead that they see – everything will be different.”
“They don’t care, even if they’re making it for their grandma,” said Juan.
Both Julia and Juan have, and continue to, teach beading both in-house and off-site.
Some of Candillo’s bead creations are true works of art and their bead shop has an endless assortment of products to work with.
Julia and Juan both said they, and their customers alike, appreciate that beading offers hobbyists a lot of value for their money.
“Parents will spend hundreds of dollars on their kids going to amusement and theme parks and the zoo,” noted Julia. “They’ll come here and make jewelry and they’ll ask their kid, ‘What was your favorite thing you did on vacation?’ And the kid will say, ‘The bead store.’ Then they’ll thank us.”
Juan said it really is fulfilling for both of them knowing “people had such a good time, and had such good memories, being in our store. We just want them to be happy beading.”
Beads and More
Where: 4150 Mission Blvd., Suite 111.
Contact: [email protected], 858-483-4190.
