TRAVERSE CITY -- The name of the business is Nawbin Beads, but it could just as easily be called Nawbin Just-About-Everything.
Of course, owners Tom and Julie Bielman carry Swarovski crystal beads in a rainbow of colors, Bali silver beads, Czech glass beads, bone beads, trade beads, vintage beads, semi-precious stone beads and all the clasps and wires one could possibly want.
They also offer a series of jewelry-making classes.
But their 16-year-old, family-run business also is home to an eclectic inventory of curiosities that includes Mauritanian goatskin lamps, amber from Lithuania, crystal skulls from China, African masks, Chinese temple gongs, Afghan wedding hats, obsidian knife blades, Coptic crosses from Ethiopia, a Mayan flute, necklaces from Yemen and even fossilized dinosaur droppings.
"Our customers come from all around the world," said Tom. "We have people who come back each year during their summer visits to northern Michigan. We even had a customer from the Arctic Circle."
Just stroll around Nawbin Beads' new home in a 115-year-old Front Street building and you'll find plenty of jewelry-making items, along with quartz, copper from the U.P., leather, feathers and pelts from coyotes, fox, rabbits, sheep and bison.
"We have a bit of everything and we each have our own special areas (of expertise)," said Karl, the Bielmans' son who helps run the business. "Our customers are pretty diverse -- we get Boy Scouts who are working on projects, professional women making jewelry, guys making fishing flies and local artists."
In 1971, Tom and Julie left Ann Arbor with degrees from the University of Michigan and moved to the wilds of the Upper Peninsula, north of Marquette, where they owned an antique and art gallery.
Eight years later, they moved to the Grand Traverse region and the family's interest in beads grew. By 1990 they had filled a small room in their house with beads and other artifacts.
In 1992, the Bielmans launched their first retail site in a small building behind Sleder's Tavern. They named it Nawbin, a Native American word meaning "to look, to see, to become what you are looking at."
The business kept growing and in 1999 moved to Eighth Street, just east of Garfield Road.
Two months ago the Bielmans relocated to the historic Front Street building, which originally was a wheelwright and livery stable, but has also housed a video store and a skate board shop in recent years.
About Nawbin Beads
Address: 925 E. Front St., Traverse City
Phone: (231) 932-9514
Online: www.nawbinbeads.com
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, by chance on Sunday
Employees: 6
Years in business: 16
