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Date: 5/30/2023
NORTHAMPTON — A well-known online business is opening its first retail location on Pearl Street.
Kelly and Chris Viens is opening Tejas Beads on 7 Pearl St. as their first physical retail store location offering “premium quality gemstone beads” and “jewelry-making supplies.”
“This is a great area to be in,” Chris Viens told Reminder Publishing at the new location. “There are a lot of artistic people who are going to want to make and wear a gemstone bracelet.”
Despite this being their first retail location, the business’s journey started long before. According to Chris Viens, Kelly Viens — who was born in New York but grew up in Panama — began doing trade shows across the country in 2010 by loading up a bunch of beads in her Chevy Express van. One year, she did over 40 shows.
After doing that work for 10 years, the trade shows were canceled abruptly due to the coronavirus pandemic, so Chris and Kelly Viens decided to build a website in 2020 offering their beads and launched it in June of that year.
The couple loaded up two 18-wheelers and traversed to Western Mass. to start a family and set up shop with their new beads business, as they felt the better traffic and slower-paced lifestyle benefited their current situation.
“Around the beginning of this year, we saw this space open up [in Northampton] and it was on Pearl Street, which is perfect for what our products are,” Chris Viens said.
According to Chris Viens, Western Massachusetts is an ideal spot to grow the business because there are not as many strong bead shops as Tejas. “One of the things we really like about this area is that we’re going to have people coming to the store from two to three hours in all directions,” Chris Viens said. “There are no other stores like it in this area. It’s going to be a destination, and on top of that, Northampton is a cool town that people will like to visit.”
Aside from this new retail location, the couple also opened a wholesale warehouse location in Easthampton, and their expansive collection of semi-precious beads has made them one of the largest online bead suppliers in the U.S.
As of now, Chris Viens handles the advertising, accounting, as well as any website and customer service work, while Kelly — who speaks five languages — handles quality control and spearheads all of the sourcing. They also currently have five employees.
According to Chris Viens, the products they offer include materials from all over the world, and in the store specifically, Tejas will carry anything from 925 silver to findings, to a large selection of pendants.
Beyond that though, Chris Viens said the business’s biggest focus is gemstone beads including a full collection of smooth finish, matte finish, faceted, micro-faceted and many shapes.
“When we come across rare stone material, we might never see it again, so when we have the opportunity to buy something rare, we’ll buy a lot of it that will last us three or four years,” Chris Viens said. “There’s always going to be something new and exciting.”
The retail store in Northampton will be open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and readers can find more information about the store and what they offer at tejasbeads.com. The hope is that the store opens at the beginning of June.