Ayla’s Originals is closing, but beading business will continue online
After 29 years, Ayla Pizzo, the owner and creative mainstay of Ayla’s Originals at 1511 Sherman Ave., is packing up and moving out of Evanston. She and her husband, Joe, who works with her, are relocating to a retirement community in Huntley, Illinois.
Her business never fully recovered from COVID, and foot traffic from the apartment building across the street, The Albion, never materialized the way she had hoped. People’s hobbies have changed, too. Today, Ayla’s brick-and-mortar sales represent 50% of her revenue and online sales represent the other half.
While the physical store is closing, its inventory and, more importantly, Ayla’s knowledge, will still be accessible through BeadTV, an online selling community she created through Facebook, where she hosts livestreams about beading.
Plus, later this year, she expects to restock her Etsy store, as well as update the store’s website and YouTube channel, so fans will still be able to find her products.
There will be a temporary hiatus on jewelry repairs, but after Oct. 1, that part of the business will resume, too. Virag Jewelers, at 703 Main St., has agreed to be a drop-off point for beading repairs going to Ayla’s Originals. She plans to stop in once a week for pick-ups and drop-offs.
Despite closing her longtime shop, Pizzo said she’s been able to find a network of bead fans online, where she can find other stores to sell her own products to or people she can teach to bead.
“I’m calling it semiretirement. There are so few bead stores left in the country, that being able to sell to them in a communitylike format, where they can join us on Facebook, has been great,” she said. “And it’s not an isolated thing where you’re just going to somebody’s website, right? It’s a community.”
A week or so after we spoke, Pizzo described her experience in this beading community that she’s come to know.
“That’s the best part: we are coming together for a singular purpose (beads) but we’ve found that there is so much more unity than anyone could have imagined,” she wrote in an email. “We all love, we all hurt, we’re here dealing with whatever it is, and beading helps with the anxiety and the community helps with loneliness.”
Pizzo loves teaching people about beading, and she incorporates moments of education throughout her videos on BeadTV, saying things like, “This is how you tie a knot on your elastic bracelet. This is how you crimp [compress into small folds] a bead. This is how you make a loop for earrings.”
In addition to the beads, she sells beading tools, findings (the pieces that link beads together), jump rings (metal rings that connect jewelry components) and other items needed to make earrings, necklaces and bracelets.
“My most favorite thing to teach is about the quality of the bead,” she said. “So I can say, ‘OK, this is rose quartz and it’s $10, and this is rose quartz and it’s $50; let me explain to you why.’ I love doing that, because then you can see it, you know? Otherwise, you’re just like, ‘Well, why is this so much more expensive than that?’ But I’ve always said that the educated consumer is my best customer.”
BeadTV is a live, scheduled show on Facebook, and Pizzo’s community tunes in on their computers or phones.
“We go live on Facebook a couple times a week with what we call BeadTV. So this is what we’re doing this week,” she said, gesturing to the schedule on the board above. “Each ‘corner’ is something that we just sell individually. You can buy a clasp. Sometimes we do strands. Sometimes we have themes.”
Another big source of vintage beads is estate sales. Adult children of former beaders sometimes seek her out when they’re going through a late parent’s belongings. Pizzo said she welcomes the opportunity to look at old collections, which she frequently buys. She loves the idea of old beads being repurposed. It’s one of those situations where everyone wins — the person selling the collection, the person buying part of it to incorporate into a new piece of jewelry, and Pizzo.
She noted that she’s keeping the store’s email info@ayla’soriginals.com and phone number (847-328-4040), encouraging anyone to contact her if they have beads to sell.
“Everything is currently at 40% off. We are going to close on August 10, and then we’re going to take a couple days and rearrange stuff. Then we’re going to open up for furniture and fixtures, because I’ve got a whole basement of 29 years worth of furniture and fixtures,” she said. “That’s going to go the next week. Our last day that will be open will be August 17, but the last day for the beads will be August 10.”
Discounts will eventually reach 60% as that final day approaches.
Reflecting on her passion for beading, Pizzo added that she’s a big believer in the power of creativity.
“Beading is so soothing and calming, and honestly, it just kind of keeps the world at bay. Hobbies do that, right? Whatever it is that calls to you, answer it. Hobbies keep you sane. … There’s joy in that, and that joy feeds your soul,” she said.
“You can create beauty in this world that so desperately needs it. Don’t give up on your creativity, because we are in desperate need of beauty, especially now.”
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