Who We Are

Lima Beads is a small bead shop in Ann Arbor, MI. We pride ourselves on the quality of our products and the quality of our relationships with our customers. We started in the spare bedroom of a college apartment and now work out of a downtown historical building. We love what we do. We obsess over details. We provide consistently great quality. We spend the 15 minutes before lunch deciding what to eat and the 15 minutes after lunch talking about how good it tasted. We laugh with each other and with our customers. We strive to provide a great value. We don't strive to sell the cheapest beads. We give back to charities. We respect the environment. We'll make sure you're happy with Lima Beads.

Meet the Lima Team Leaders

The Lima Loft

Our office is located in downtown Ann Arbor, MI. We occupy the 2nd floor of a building that was built in 1883! We don't have an elevator or a lift of any kind -- which means that every bead we sell goes up (and back down) our steep flight of stairs. We love our loft office. It's a very open floor plan, which allows us to have the collaborative work environment that we all love. At this point, we just can't see ourselves in a boring warehouse somewhere, but ask us in a few years when the back pain starts to kick in.

Our building was originally commissioned by the Free Masons to be used as a masonic lodge. They occupied the third floor (above us) until the early 1900s. It has been empty ever since and still has secret areas and small peep holes in the doors. Steve likes to look through and ask "What's the password?" -- Oh the fun we have.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

We couldn't ask for a better city for Lima Beads. Ann Arbor is home to The University of Michigan and as a college town, it provides the kind of energy and cultural scene that helps us thrive. There are always musicians playing on the sidewalks beneath our office windows. During the warm months, all of the restaurants put tables out on the sidewalks, which makes for fun lunches with the whole team. Yes, it's cold in the winter, but all of the downtown trees glow with lights, UofM students create ice sculptures, carolers sing around the holidays and a hot coffee is right across the street! On saturdays during the fall months -- it's all about UofM football. It's the biggest football stadium in the country, which means that over 100,000 people flood into town each weekend and the energy is incredible. There's always something fun to do -- the challenge is not having too much fun.

What our customers have to say

We're really proud to provide great service to our customers--and we often hear back from them. Read them all