Aug 13, 2007
Beadz Boutique a jewelry-making mecca
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by SUSAN CHAVES
Hersam Acorn Newspapers
When Westonite Suzanne England sold off her pet-, plant-, and house-sitting service, she had planned to spend the next three years relaxing and planning a career that would lead into retirement. However, boredom set in after two years, and she started looking for something to do.
She found the answer from her teenage stepdaughter, Amanda, who had become adept at jewelry design.
Now, not only is Ms. England proficient at the craft, but she owns Beadz Boutique, a new store at 37 Tokeneke Road in Darien that sells beads and other items needed to make one’s own jewelry as well as custom-made pieces.
“So far, it’s been everything I expected it to be,” said Ms. England, formerly a graphic designer.
Making the store a success, she believes, will require offering the most desired items at fair prices and getting a few more local designers into the store, which opened on June 15 — later than she originally anticipated due to the two-month renovation project to convert the space that was once a pet grooming business.
Despite the small setback, she is still happy to have a place where people may come to her rather than having to showcase her products through at-home jewelry-making parties. That method, she said, quickly turned tedious.
“It was really tough to lug all that stuff around,” Ms. England said. “I needed to have a store, but I couldn’t afford one then.”
That did not stop her from talking about it and researching where to get the best beads and related merchandise. That, in addition to bar coding everything, proved to be two of the most difficult aspects of launching the store, and did not help to calm nerves already frayed by a struggle to come up with a name.
“We had about 200 names, and no matter what name we came up with, we found they were already taken,” Ms. England said. “Then I saw a store called Beadz, and, wanting to have something ‘boutique-y’ for Darien, which is very sophisticated, I put the two words together and came up with Beadz Boutique.”
Although there are plenty of similar stores in nearby towns, she said the prices and the atmosphere set her shop apart from the competition.
For instance, Ms. England said she does not charge for “every little thing,” including if a customer wants to sit down at the table located at the back of the store and learn a particular jewelry-making technique.
“People love that and we want the repeat business,” Ms. England said. “For me, it’s about friendliness and women getting together and talking about things.”
It mirrors the easy relationship she has with Amanda, who moved in with her father and stepmother in Weston just before high school after having lived on Block Island, R.I., since she was seven. It was during the summer after eighth grade that Amanda learned to bead from Rachel Elle, a local jewelry designer on the island.
Seeing Amanda’s creations piqued Ms. England’s interest, and soon the pair were designing beaded necklaces, earrings and bracelets under their own label, Younique, which they had been selling at Elliott Lawrence Jewelers in Westport and now offer at Beadz Boutique.
The money Amanda earned selling the pieces at a Block Island farmers’ market last summer helped pay for her freshman year at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where she is studying jewelry design.
Although the Darien store will keep Amanda from participating in the market this summer, Ms. England said she would like to open a location on Block Island that Amanda would manage. Upon retirement, Ms. England also plans to turn over ownership of the Darien shop to her stepdaughter.
“If this goes how I think it will, we should be able to do this,” she said. “It would be great for Amanda to have a future in this.”
For now, Ms. England is happy to finally be in charge of her own store.
“I don’t think everyone that has a store loves it,” Ms. England said. “We love it. I know it’s still new, but I enjoy it. It’s like home to me.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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