Supply store review: Suma Beads Gems & Pearls

I've been shopping for beads and gemstones in New York City for more than a year now. I'd always go to the same stores on the 6th Ave and it's getting boring and routine. I've always wanted to discover new stores, especially for pearls and gemstones. Genuine Ten Ten is just too expensive and they don't have a lot of gemstone options. One day as I was hunting for citrine heart briolettes, I ran into some gemstone stores on 37th St. There are two gemstone stores run by Indian whole sellers. As you know, India produces a lot of high quality gemstones. As soon as I saw the stores, I had to dash inside to take a look. So in this entry I'll do a mini review of one of the stores - the one where I bought my citrine stones.

PRODUCTS
I took a picture of the store front from across the street. This store is located at the corner of 6th Ave / 37th St. From this picture you can already see a huge collection of gemstones hanging on the wall. Most of the precious and semi-precious gemstone beads are in the back of the store. Some strands are marked with price tags, some aren't. The strands without price tags are priced by weight. I bought my citrine from this store. As far as the quality is concerned, they're not the AAA highest quality, but with some digging and patience, you can find some A-AA quality gemstones for a pretty good price. They do wholesale and retail. If you have your tax ID, you could get the wholesale price. I didn't have my tax ID with me at the time and they still gave me a small discount. I was happy about it.

In the middle of the store, on the display tables, there is a HUGE collection of pearls of all kind. You can also find new arrivals and discounted items there too. The staff are nice - at least they were nice to me. There was another customer in the store at the time I was shopping. This customer was bargaining with the store owner on the phone and her tone of voice didn't sound very nice. However, the staff managed to remain polite and nice so I think they did a very good job.

Here is a picture of the citrine 10mm heart briolettes I got. Champagne yellow and orange-ish flares. The color is more intense in person. Good clarity. Good reflection of light (they really sparkle and I love using them for my jewelry). No internal fracture. Overall very good quality.

PRICE
All gemstones and pearls are sold in strands so you have to buy wholesale volumes. For the citrine that I bought, I think I got them at a good price. There is a bunch of pearls and gemstones that are on discount. I believe if you spend enough time browsing in the store, you will get something quality at good prices.

MY THOUGHTS
For gemstones, you might be able to get better prices online, but I'd rather buy from physical stores, especially after I found Suma. It's not just about touching and examining the stones in person. From my experience buying gemstones online, you pay for expensive shipping (because gemstones are heavy) and wait for a LONG time when you order directly from Indian manufacturers. International shipping takes a long time. Sometimes the gemstones may turn out to be different from your expectation. After doing that for several times, I thought it's really not worth it, especially when you're running a business and you don't want to gamble on the quality of your products. I'm glad I found this store. I'll definitely go to them when I need gemstones.

Supply store review: Bead Max

I meant to write this review a long time ago but I felt that I haven't visited this store frequent enough to review it. Now that it has been a while since it opened last year, I think I'm ready to give my thoughts on the store.



PRODUCTS
This is the storefront. I don't have much thing to say about the entrance except that it's very bright and looks welcoming. As soon as you step into the store, you see all sorts of stones hanging on the wall and more products on the center panels. Most of the stones are not interesting to me, except for a few birthstones and gems which are available in briolette and rondelle shapes. In the back of the store you can find more discounted products, mostly cheap plastic beads and such.

PRICES
Price wise, I was not impressed. I think the prices tend to be higher than all the other stores in the neighborhood. There is a huge collection of one-of-a-kind stones but not a lot of popular stones that normal people would buy. The store owner speaks mandarin Chinese so I think his supplies are probably from China. (All the other stores in the block are pretty much run by the same family from Hong Kong if you didn't know by now. They import their supplies directly HK.)

MY THOUGHTS
I have been to this store for over 50 times since it opened and I haven't found one thing that I wanted to get from this particular store. Most of the things I normally buy, I could get them from other sources for cheaper prices and better quality. I think you guys should know what I think about this store.