To keep the shelves stocked at their shop, Beads, Inc., Anne Todd and Christine White take frequent buying trips across the country, looking for the very best gems and jewels to bring home to Charlotte.
The Tuscon Gem Show, where the sisters are today, is the largest show of its kind in the country – and the duo are Charlotte’s only jewelry designers in attendance. This is the sisters’ 9th year in a row attending Tucson.
While 2001 may have been the official opening year of their business, but for sisters Christine White and Anne Todd, Beads Inc. has been a lifelong enterprise. As children, the duo’s mother allowed them unbridled access to anything—from fabrics to paint brushes—that might spark their imaginations.
Anne and Christine operate out of a beautifully-preserved 1920s Colonial in Myers Park. Since buying the property, they’ve renovated and preserved much of the original structure, and given it a few clean, modern updates. The place is all hardwood, big, sweeping windows, and sun-drenched rooms – filled, of course, with gems, jewels, leather, wood, baubles, string, twine, and so, so much more. It’s like a two-story treasure chest, and every time you round a corner or look at a display, you see something new.
