About Us

A note from Charlene and Dan:

We’re the owners of Caravan Beads of Chicago, a retail bead store on Chicago’s north side. When we opened the store in 1994 it was part of a dream come true for us. Since we’ve opened, our selection of beads has grown significantly. In fact, we grew so much we had to move to a bigger store. Fortunately, it was right across the street. We tripled our retail space and added separate classrooms. Our inventory has grown to include over one million different types of beads, including seed beads, Czech glass, art glass, semi-precious, castings, ethnic, Swarovski crystals, Bali and Thai silver….and the list goes on!

Caravan Beads is NOT a franchise! Each store is independently owned and operated, and each has a different and unique selection of beads. (Our shop carries the complete line of Miyuki Delica beads, over 1000 colors in all, as well as an extensive selection of other Japanese seed beads.) We all have the same philosophy, however…We strive to make Caravan Beads the only place you’d ever want to shop for beads!

Every year we discover tons of new beads that we just can’t live without, every week we find exciting new treasures to add to our selection. And of course, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting thousands of wonderfully talented beaders!

We are expanding the business, and this summer we began Beads To Go, our shop on-line! For those of you who just can’t make it into the store, now you can still get all the pretty beads! But, for those of you who can stop in…..come by and say hello to all the friendly faces. We’re full of great ideas and the staff is extremely knowledgeable. 

Thanks again for checking us out. Happy Beading!

~Charlene and Daniel Steele