MAGAZINES 
Biz Spotlight
The Jewel On the Corner
Nomad Bead Mechants settles down at Ninth & Walnut
By Charmaine Ortega Getz
Co-owners Jake March and Catherine Phillips moved Nomad Bead Merchants from 18th and Pearl streets to the corner of Ninth and Walnut—where their business has increased by 30 percent. Strings and bundles of beads from around the globe make the shop’s interior look like Ali Baba’s treasure cave. Photos by Charmaine Ortega Getz
Don’t tell Jake and Catherine not to sweat the small stuff. Their business is all little things—delicate, rough, plain, fancy, antique or freshly minted.
Beads. They have served as adornments, trading tokens, even currency between those of no fixed address, for thousands of years.
It’s a history echoed in the name of the Boulder store, Nomad Bead Merchants, owned by Jake March and Catherine Phillips. It’s a mystique reflected in strings and bundles of beads and jewelry findings from all corners of the globe that give the store’s interior the look of Ali Baba’s treasure cave.
“This is not a commodity to us,” says March, a man not afraid to wear bold necklaces that complement his extensive tattoos. “It’s a passion.”
That passion didn’t get fully unleashed until last year, when Nomad shed considerable inventory and moved west from its 20-year location near 18th and Pearl streets to its present corner site at Walnut and Ninth. “We got rid of most of the Tibetan and other Asian items because many more stores are selling those things now than when Nomad first started,” Phillips says.
The owners feel their new location has made the shop more visible to the community and to visitors exploring downtown Boulder. For example, “People staying at the St Julien [hotel] drop in and find out that we offer free beading classes,” Phillips says. “The moms in the group find that to be a nice break from hiking, and it still gives the kids something fun to do.”
‘The Gods Conspired’
Phillips can speak from her experience on both sides of the Nomad counter. She first came to March’s shop about 17 years ago on a hunt for interesting jewelry bits, morphed from regular customer to trusted friend, and then to business partner a couple of years ago.
“I was writing budgets at Sun Accounting,” she says. “I didn’t want to retire completely, but I was tired of being corporate. I was looking for more creative business outlets.”
“The gods conspired to bring us together,” says March, who started out in the construction trade before he opened Nomad to sell his artisan mother’s excess bead collections.
The partnership has freed March to travel to trade shows and far-flung artisans’ workshops to stock Nomad’s inventory. He has a yen for the historical and unique. Some of Nomad’s beads, such as the Roman-made glass, date back thousands of years. But even the bulk of the newer stuff isn’t cranked out in factories.
“A lot of what we have is made by families that we’ve been doing business with for years, like the Czech glass beads,” March says. “Or it comes from small batches created by local artists. That’s a really grass-roots, burgeoning industry.”
Phillips has an eye for trends. “Beads are symbols of support for people to wear close; that represents centuries of continuity,” she says. More recently, “the birthing necklace has been huge. Friends and family members each choose a sacred bead to string on a necklace presented to the expectant mom.”
Best Free Activity in Town
The partners agree that it’s not only what Nomad sells but what goes with it that sets them apart from other hobby stores.
“There are places that charge a lot for beginning classes,” Phillips says. “Actually, beading doesn’t require as much practice to do it well as knitting or quilting. We try to keep the bar of entry low. We offer free basic classes on Saturdays—somebody once tweeted that it was the best free weekend activity in Boulder. And we have pretty minor fees for special-project classes.”
Every Nomad employee is a beading artist, including Phillips’s daughter, Margot Koval, who leads classes. That means a high level of savvy available for those seeking guidance.
Other services offset what might be a rather marginal business if it relied on bead sales alone. Nomad holds beading-centered birthday parties and sells loose beads and jewelry findings on consignment. It also offers jewelry repair, even rearranging or recycling of trinkets.
A spectacular gold, coral and turquoise piece by Jake March.
Photo by Charmaine Ortega Getz
“One woman’s father served at the royal court in England, and she had those wonderful old buttons from his court dress that we turned into a necklace,” Phillips says.
Outsiders might look at what Phillips calls a “May-December business partnership” and jump to conclusions about which partner brings what skills to the business, in terms of artistry and practicality. It takes some listening to realize there’s a good deal of crossover.
“At a time when there’s not a lot of service given, we give service all day long,” March says. “Our last year was a record year for us. Thirty percent over the year before.”
And that business service is built around simple creativity. “Beading,” says Phillips, “is like a moment’s vacation from the rest of life.”
Charmaine Ortega Getz, a freelance journalist, has written for numerous regional publications. She is the author of Weird Colorado (Sterling Publishing, 2010).
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