Caravan Beads Inc has a retail store in Portland, Maine and
licensees (similar to franchisees) in Chicago and
Wilmington, NC. (Note: The Dover, NH store has closed.)
Brief history:
Caravan Beads began life in early 1991 on the sun porch of
Barry and Jean Kahn's house. Started by Jean Kahn and
Carolyn Mitchell, the initial goal of the business was to
enable its founders to buy beads and findings at wholesale
prices while sharing their enjoyment of making beaded
jewelry. The orginal 'store' was only open on Saturdays and
the inventory lived in a couple of suitcases. Despite a
total lack of advertising, Caravan Beads grew and by the
end of summer had a new home in a second-floor office
space. Following a successful first holiday season, the
business relocated again in April of 1992.
In the summer of 1994, Caravan Beads of Chicago became our
first licensee and we began to
assist in opening new bead stores
around the country. That year also marked our entry into
mail-order wholesale. The web site went on-line in
October, 1995. One month later we received our first
shipment from Miyuki Co., Ltd. (developer of the
incomparable Delicas®).
Early in 1999, it became clear that the mail order business
was going to outgrow its quarters again. After a couple of
months of searching, we purchased a suitable building.
Remodeling the inside took another 2 1/2 months, but the
wait was worth it and that warehouse served us well till
2002, when we again found ourselves with more beads than
space to house them. After months of searching we found a
new building, this one large enough to house both our
retail store and the mail order business under one roof.
After a lot of remodeling and a move which involved
transporting about 50 tons of stuff, we were in our new
home.
Some years back we sponsored a couple of
Delica Challenge Competitions.