Do you love beading and making jewelry so much that your dream is to open a bead store? I did just that. Opening a retail bead store is hard work but very rewarding, especially if you simply love to bead. A few years ago, I moved to a new city that didn't have a retail bead store. Within three months, I'd opened a store and the rest is history.

Before I seriously thought about looking for a retail space, I took an informal survey of women every where I went. Nearly every person I spoke with thought a bead store would be a great addition to the community. Only one person had a nonchalant attitude about it. She was wearing a beaded bracelet so I thought maybe she would have a positive response to the idea, but she told me that a friend had given the bracelet to her. So, with my 99% positive/1% neutral survey results in hand, I made the leap. After all, people are creative. Many love crafting, and making jewelry is a release from the stresses of their day.

I began by speaking with a bead store owner in the state where I had lived. There were two states between us, so I knew there was no competition for customers. When I approached her for ideas and thoughts on how she had opened her store, she was forthcoming with lots of great ideas and advice. She operated her store in an even smaller town than mine, and she was doing fine. I can start a bead store, I thought.

Next, I used the advice I'd been given and called the distributor she had recommended. Some wholesale bead store suppliers sell exclusively to retail bead stores. Some of these wholesale bead suppliers also sell to the public, but with quantity ordering, you will come out ahead price-wise than a person off the street.

With a firm conviction that I could start a bead store, I began looking for retail space. I knew I had to find a spot that had plenty of vehicle traffic every day. I didn't have a large advertising budget so the space itself was going to be a large part of my advertising. After driving around for several days, I found a charming empty storefront downtown. The foot traffic from downtown workers was good, but parking was a nightmare. The metered on-the-street parking spaces were nearly always full, and that was a negative. I kept looking when I never heard back after calling about the space. Then I drove by a space that was on a street nearly everyone took when driving into downtown. I snapped it up!

I rented the space two weeks before my scheduled opening. I had a phone installed then got 500 business cards made up with the opening date printed on them. I passed out nearly all of them before the opening. I also arranged for vinyl signs with the bead shop's name to be installed on the plate glass window and the door to the store.

Next, I wrote up a simple business plan to present to a local bank. I had money saved but wanted a line of credit to use exclusively for the store, if possible. I was successful in getting a $20,000 line of secured credit. This eased my mind and gave me a boost of confidence that I wasn't totally off my beaded rocker.

With money in hand, I began ordering inventory and bead supplies. I had to wing it here completely, because I didn't know how much or even what I would need. Thinking back to other bead stores I'd visited, I ordered strands of beads, findings, bead mats, tools, and on and on. The catalogs I received were overwhelming, but I sat down with a notepad and began my shopping list.

Where will I put all this stuff? I asked myself after I'd placed a huge order. I began shopping for display cases and any other items that would allow me to hang bead strands and display all of the stock I would soon be bombarded with. I love vintage and antique items so visited antique stores, thrift stores, and consignment furniture stores where I bought all of my display cases. I bought pegboard and hooks for hanging inventory items. I painted the pegboard and trimmed it with a stained wood trim. I used two dressers, placed them about six feet apart and screwed large sheets of plywood to them for large display tables. Around the top edge of the plywood, I added baseboard trim to create a ledge. I used vintage trays, platters, mancala game boards, anything with divided spaces, to display loose beads.

Opening day! With only a small display ad in the local newspaper and the nearly 500 business cards I'd handed out, I opened quietly on a Saturday. I actually had a few "customers" who were more curious than ready to part with their money. Looking back, the walls were bare for the most part. After just a few months of learning what customers wanted, I was soon looking for more space in each nook and cranny.

For sales, I used simple two-part carbonless sale receipt books and invested in QuickBooks for bookkeeping purposes. After about six months of doing nearly every thing myself, I finally gave up some control and hired part-time employees. My life improved dramatically. Trying to do it all yourself is no way to run a retail store. But loving what you're doing is a huge reward.

• Take the plunge if you feel like the market will support you starting a bead store.
• Think it through and trust your gut.
• People are creative and love making treasures with their own hands.
• Starting a retail bead store is a ton of work. Hire part-time employees to ease your load.