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 March 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.
Now (October 2006) we again find ourselves needing more room. We're currently working on a plan to build a 12,000 sq ft addition to our current building which will include a new space for our retail store and plenty of additional warehouse space for both the retail and wholesale parts of our business. Take a look at the building expansion category on the news page for updates as we wend our way through this lengthy and complex process.
Some years back we sponsored a couple of Delica Challenge Competitions..