General Bead

Pros:
* Nice selection of beads — downstairs
* Friendly/​helpful staff
Cons:
* The disgusting cat
* Upstairs is kind of a mess. Labels on
packages are faded.
* Bead packages are stapled to the wall.
like

I decided to make jewelry for a friend for Christmas. And I needed beads. But just not any beads. I wanted Swarovski beads. And General Bead was the first hit on the search.
It’s tucked away in Soma, so you’re bound to pass by some unsavory folk. But I didn’t bother them, so I guess they didn’t want to bother me. When I entered, I was overwhelmed by their selection. I knew they had a lot to offer from their website, but seeing it in person is another experience. I found the Swarovski section, and realized that the ones I wanted online were too small. So I’m so happy that I went to the store.
I filled out the order form, but decided to peruse to see what else they had. The second floor had other beads and charms to choose from. They even have sections of loose charms and beads at a lower cost. I didn’t have time to look through those bins, plus it was getting hot and my lunch hour was closing in. I gave my form to the employee, and she informed me that they ran out of one of the beads. She brought ones that were similar in color, but still Swarovski (I think just a different cut), and they actually looked better than the ones I originally intended to buy.
I shouldn’t be surprised that a place like this exists in San Francisco. But I’m glad it does. If you’re into jewelry making, this is the place to go.

The stores is scary messy. While I did find beads I liked it was chaotic and dirty. It smells like cat in not a good way. The people were nice and helpful but I don’t understand how they could work in those conditions. Beads and grime everywhere. Their leather supply was pitiful and well as clasps and buttons. I won’t go back though I did get to experience the other side of the tracks in terms of bead stores. I stick with Berkeley stores, shows and on-​line.

I love this place! Very friendly staff, good music and great selection of beads. The gentleman that rang me up downstairs was extremely pleasant and informative. Will definitely be returning!

After being a customer of their on-​line website & stores on eBay & etsy, I FINALLY had the good fortune to visit this past Saturday (9÷19÷15) while on vacationing in Northern California. One word: AWESOME!!! From Zack who greeted me and fulfilled my order, the rest of their staff, to the lovable & inscutable George Harrison the Cat, a perfect experience!

Amazing selection and the people here couldn’t be more helpful. I especially like whenever I ask them about the history of certain items here. Buying stuff here might be a bit confusing to the uninitiated, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll want to come back again and again.

I love this place! Groovy vibe and décor inside the place. It makes me miss the old soul San Francisco once had. Great selections for different kinds of beads. It was nice meeting fluffy Mr. George Harrison, too.

Ever since I have been coming here and stalking up on supplies my jewelry business has taken off. So much so that I come in nearly every other week!
I love this place! Not only are the prices great but so are the materials! They have over 60,000 different things in their store. Kind of unbelievable when you think about it. Everyone is super nice and tentative. If you make jewelry you have to come here! Anything and everything you can dream of when it comes to beads you will no doubt find at General Bead.

This place is great!
You can get anything and everything here for your jewelry making projects about as inexpensively as possible. Yeah, web prices are slightly better, but you cant cuddle the beads and fall in love over the web…
Also, you can play pinball for a quarter on the first floor when you need a little bead break.
Last, but not least, your shopping/​pinball experience will have an agro soundtrack (probably brought to you by the owner’s son? Just guessing.)
Love love love this place!

This place is so awesome. I am officially addicted. Great selection of stuff to make your creative brain go wild. The dude at the counter was friendly and helpful. Also they have a cool cat in there. Also they play cool music. Love it.
Highly recommend this place! Hope it can remain open as many of small SF businesses are getting displaced and things are getting streamlined. I know I will continue to come back again and again. In fact I might be bound for the Bead later today! Lol.
Cheers General Bead!

This place was just odd to me. Maybe if I had been looking for higher end jewelry parts, I would’ve had a better experience as the downstairs had a nice selection and was full of workers that seemed knowledgeable about the products and good customer service.
I, however, was looking for cheap plastic pony beads. So, upstairs I went and it was like entering the reject part of the store. The pony bead section had almost no variety, no basic colors, and no variety in value packs (you could only buy 1000 bead packs or per bead prices). It looked like they had never restocked from when the store was first built, and you could only choose from the random colors that nobody wanted. You also had to carry all the beads to the front for them to count out for you instead of being able to count and package yourself or bring up an item number. Since I wanted to buy a variety of colors, this meant I had to lug 10 bags around with me to the counter. Not a huge deal, but not the most comfortable shopping method. The stocking was also weird; I wanted letter beads and they only had vowel packs or a pack of S’s; I kind of needed a range of the alphabet.
Then I go to the front of the store to make my purchases, and the one worker for the whole upstairs tells me to bring my purchases to him. I gesture that I already have everything and he continues his lengthy conversation with another customer about non-​bead related things. I patiently wait there for about 10 minutes. Finally, he turns to me and asks what I wanted. He turns to start and then decides that he has to spend 10 minutes to change the CD. By the time he comes back, he forgot he had started on me and tries to help the other customer since she only has a few things to buy. When I tell him that I’m sort of in a rush, he tries to help me but became very flustered. He couldn’t remember how many beads I wanted even though I told him multiple times, and in the end still gave me more than I had requested. I also had to point out the correct price of the beads as he almost, on accident, doubled the price of the beads. When I wanted 100 of a certain bead, he couldn’t figure out how to count those (odd for a place where the worker has to count them for you). Admittedly, he did try to get someone else to help me from downstairs, but due to my time constraint I just decided to leave with the few beads he had already counted. He did feel bad and apologized profusely and gave me a small discount on what he did manage to count.
To clarify, I did have a time constraint which was part of the reason I wasn’t completely satisfied, BUT I allotted 30 minutes to just purchase the beads. In 30 minutes, I got only 3 types of beads out of the 10 or so I wanted.
Other plus, they have a cute cat.

This hidden little shop is full of reasonably priced treasures, and many different findings and all you’ll need to make your bead creations.
It’s tucked away on a dark residential alley in SOMA, and the building looks shut down from the outside — but it’s not! Inside are walls of lovely beads and materials, and the salespeople are very helpful.

Fantastic place, even just to visit. They have everything from beads to findings, to
boa’s to whatever. Prices are fair. If they are out, they will get it for you.
Love this store. Only problem is I spend too much money every time I walk in.

Still my favorite place to buy jewelry supplies. The employees are fantastic and helpful, and I also end up having very interesting conversations with Steven (I believe that’s his name). He’s quite a character, and I love that he enjoys talking to his customers. I ended up staying there for at least an hour and a half yesterday, talking about politics and some random topics while my beads were counted.
George, the fluffy black resident kitty cat, was as lovable as always and licked my nose a few times. I can’t stand how adorable he looks when he’s sprawled across the counter and waving his tail around to knock down beads. I absolutely loooove when stores have animals roaming freely, so I’m always excited to run into George.
If you need ANY jewelry supplies, stop by. It’s just ridiculous and overwhelming in the best way possible.

This is the real deal folks, representing the OLD spirit of San Francisco when apartments were cheap and artists were abundant and making national headlines. Its a survivor that defies gentrification and I rather support them than big box retail craft stores.
its two floors packed with items you won’t see anywhere else means the potential is endless. My designs stand out as different thanks to their great selection. Downstairs is the bead part with newer stuff and upstairs they have dead stock old vintage findings NOT made in China.
Every time I have gone, the music is good and the staff very helpful and friendly. Its got sun streaming through windows, a cat and house plants. Its down-​to-​earth and had a definite hippie vibe.
Inside, it hasn’t changed in about 30 years.. . Even if you are not into beads its a fun 60s and 70s flashback, including an original 60s Jimi Hendrix poster behind the counter. Appears to be owned by an older hippie bead artist and her girls. Decorated with hippie heart, its full of inspiration and flower power visual eye candy.
Also, small business owners can show a resale permit and skip the tax, or just buy in bulk. I’m just a hobby craft artist at this point but if my designs keep getting all these compliments, its entirely possible to turn my hobby into an income stream using these deals.. .
Sadly I walked by this place for a while before walking in because I assumed it was only open to the trade!!! But anybody can come in, no minimum purchase required.

Love this place and I have spent many pretty pennies there. Would have been 5 stars but for the following reasons:
–Parking: finding a spot can be very tough in the alley and on nearby streets
–Paying Seperatley: I’m not fond of having to pay for clearly labeled items upstairs only and all the downstairs stuff I have to pay for down there. Just seems a little stressful if u are in a time crunch.(they did explain that it helps with inventory but with 4 people working downstairs and only one upstairs it is a nobrainer to me)
–Wood, Horn & Bone: please place more of this on the first level. Some strands of these types would probably sell more if they were on the first floor.

I have to admit it’s been a while since I last got my craft on, but I was delighted to find that General Bead is still alive and kicking. I hadn’t been there since sometimes in the 80s (!), but today I had an inexplicable urge to make a necklace – as one does – and I headed over to Minna to scratch my itch.
General Bead is a bead mecca — two floors brimming with beads and fittings and all sorts of things I don’t even know the name of. It’s organized and tidy but has a charming air of déshabillé. You can’t touch absolutely everything; you write up your product codes on a little paper and they fetch them for you behind the counter when you’re ready to pay. But you can run your hands over waterfall hanks of tiny Czech glass beads and contemplate making a doorway curtain some day when you have time.
There is also a cat.
Everyone is extremely pleasant and there’s none of that snooty condescension towards the weekend-​crafter one encounters in, say, many knitting shops. I got some good advice («try the less expensive plastic stuff upstairs for your first efforts») and departed with a small bag, and a scarcely lighter wallet.
Five stars, which is a rarity. Glad to hear that they own the building, because the inexorable march of gold-​digging gentrification would’ve doomed this business years ago, even in the still-​louche Civic Center.

Large beads & sequins collection! Inexpensive
But why only 3-​star? The service was slow considering I went there on a slow day. The guy who’s supposedto ring me up is busy talking to another staff & then answered a call from his «grandma». He apologized for delay and told me «he has to answer the call coz this is a family-​owned business». I’m thisclose to saying «so what? Should i give a frack???»
So yeah… maybe it’s just me. I dont like to wait especially if the reason is a phone call from grandma ranting about a broken car, constipation & prune juice!

Upon deciding (quite ambitiously) that all my Xmas gifts this past year were going to be personal and handmade by me, I knew I’d be heading here for all my supplies.
A few things to keep in mind:
The location of this place is in the sketchy section of SOMA, near 7^th and Mission. Not that I really minded, but it would help a newbie like myself to read this review and know that I was walking in the right direction despite my instinct telling me otherwise.
The system here is relatively simple but very time consuming. Upon entering, you grab and pen and pad in which to write down all the corresponding # matching your beading needs. Once you’re done, you wait in line, and get helped by someone behind the counter who will fetch your requested beading materials. They may or may not actually have said supplies, which means you then have to re-​inspect the store, try to find what you ordered initially, and come back with another number of a similar beading that they hopefully have in stock (this process may be repeated several times). In fact, in my experience, one third of the items I originally wanted were non-​existent.
I wish they would put a post-​it note near the items that are not available, so the check out process would be much more efficient.
General bead, no doubt, has a great enough selection of jewelry materials and for that reason alone I’ll be back.

In an attempt to find jewelry making supplies at Blick’s I was prompted over to General Bead. This store is tucked away in an alley that smells faintly of poop, so you could imagine my hesitation before I opened the door. But lo and behold, beyond that door was a palace of glittering walls and every trinket and chain and toggle imaginable. Cue angelic voices: BEEEAAADS.
I meant to only pick up a few things but the overwhelming selection kept me in the store for a good hour. There’s also a black cat there that roams around, the final touch to a place that could belong in a Miyazaki film.