A Quest for an LBS (Local Bead Shop)

I am on a quick business trip, and as often occurs on those few occasions when I am traveling alone, the first order of business is shopping!  And lately, that can only mean one thing - a quest to find the LBS.  I sent an e-mail to Lois of ¿Qué Onda Q'town? for some ideas and she suggested Garden of Beadin in Fort Walton Beach.  It sounded awesome, but at the address that came up on Google there is now a newish looking strip mall, and no sign of a bead store.  Sigh.  It's not the first time it's happened to me.  I went in search of The Beadstro Art and Bead Gallery on a recent trip to Savannah but found a shoe store at that address.  Turns out the shop has moved to Maggie Valley, NC.  Another time I looked up a place on my GPS on a trip home from New Jersey, and when I couldn't find it and called the number, the very nice woman that answered said that she gets calls all the time, and as far as she knew, the store hadn't existed in 12 years.  A bead store in Old Town Alexandria has closed as well - Bead Obsessions.  I see now on their web site that they are moving, but the shop will no longer be open for walk in bead shopping. As tough as it seems to establish some kind of presence on line and on Etsy, it must be 1,000,000 times harder to keep an LBS going.

But I am a seasoned shopper, and found the Fort Walton Beach Flea Market right down the street.  I have been coveting some of the vintage finds that other beaders have been using in their pieces, so decided to take a look.  It was a treasure trove of goodies, and it's a good thing I flew down here, otherwise a few dishes and other housewares might have been in my basket too.  I found two necklaces that I think I can break apart and use in other ways, and some cool buttons.  The ones still in their original packaging were in a bucket with HUNDREDS, so these are the ones I picked because they seemed most jewelry like.

Got any good ideas for using buttons?  Pass them on!