Whether it's because they're not as expensive as stones or because of their unique qualities, beads are popular with the public. Tucson's bead shops have grown from two to a dozen in just six years.
It's called the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase, but one item will be more prominent than almost any other this year beads
"There are probably more beads at the gem show than all the other gems combined," said David Smith, co-owner of A Beaucoup Congé with his brother Tomás Smith. A Beaucoup Congé, which Smith said means "many days off" in French, is a Tucson bead dealer with stores at 335 E. Fort Lowell and 3773 W. Ina roads.
David Smith said the bead business has been booming for the last several years. With only two bead stores six years ago, Tucson now has about a dozen.
"It's definitely a sign of a national trend," he said, noting that the recent economic downturn has actually helped the bead business, as compared to other gems.
You have to have a lot of disposable income to put a rock on a shelf just to look at it."
The impulse to wear gems rather than just display them goes back hundreds of centuries.
"We've been picking up rocks since we were all cavemen," Smith said. "And the first thing you do is drill a hole in it."
Because you can wear beads, they are more practical and interactive, Smith said.
They also can be a money-saver.
People can save up to 80 percent on jewelry by making it themselves from beads rather than buying it a department store, Smith said. There's also the enjoyment and creative aspect of making unique jewelry.
"Since 9-11, people have been wanting to do more creative things for their families with gems," Tomás Smith said. "Beads can do that."
The Smiths have a bead show of their own that started Saturday behind their Fort Lowell store with about 20 to 25 vendors. Tomás Smith spends months preparing for the show.
"I always tell people the last three weeks before the Gem Show is like running a marathon," Tomás Smith said. "And then the two weeks of the show is like the sprint at the end."
Becky and Rick Ruzicka come from Austin, Texas, but the Tucson Gem Show will be a whole new world for them.
They will be selling beads at the show for the first time this year. Their company, Zeka Beads,
will have booths at the Bead Renaissance Show at the Sabbar Shrine Temple, 450 S. Tucson Blvd.; and the
Whole Bead Show at the Windmill Inn, 4250 Campbell Ave.
Rick Ruzicka said they went to the Gem Show for the first time last year to buy beads and form relationships with other bead dealers.
"It was mind-boggling," he said.
The Ruzickas sell a variety of natural stone and semiprecious beads, and they will bring about 700 pounds of them to Tucson.
"I would be happy if I came back with 25 percent less," Ruzicka said.
Just three years ago, selling 175 pounds of beads would have been unheard of to the Ruzickas. They were working corporate jobs in Seattle and knew "little or nothing about beads," Ruzicka said.
But the jobs were very stressful, and after a friend turned them onto the bead business, the Ruzickas quit their jobs and moved to Austin to open their business.
Tomás Smith said people often get into the bead business when they are looking for a change in their lives. He also quit a corporate job before he began selling beads.
Brother David said it was romance that brought him into the bead business.
"I was going out with a bead girl."
Source: © 2003, The Tucson Citizen . http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/
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