Devin and Cynthia Kimura of artbeads.com. What began as a small, home-based business has outgrown its third location in the last three years. The company now employs over 50 people.

About five years ago, financial planner Devin Kimura thought it would be fun to set up an e-commerce Web site. He was already working from home on his computer, knew a about running a business, and his overhead was already paid for.

In September, Kimura’s e-commerce company, Artbeads.com, will move to a 24,000-square-foot building — its fourth move in three years, each time to a bigger space. Not bad for what started as a hobby.

The new building, located on the Key Peninsula, was formerly owned by StorageTech, LLC, which will lease back 40 percent of the space. Eventually, a retail storefront will be open at the location. Some of Artbeads.com’s roughly 50 full-time employees live on the Key Peninsula and in Kitsap County, and Kimura said they are excited about having a shorter commute.

For the Kimuras, Devin and his wife Cynthia, there is a lot to be excited about as well. They have come a long way from their first year, which brought in about a dozen orders. They have even thought about calling it quits a few times, struggling to build the business as the parents of two children, who were 2 and 4 at the time. For Cynthia especially, taking care of the children (who are now 5 and 7) during the day and filling orders late at night was taking a toll.

But they have stuck with it, seeing the customer base grow and getting a lot of great feedback. “It’s not like going to a job for eight hours. We are building something,” Cynthia, company vice president, explains.

For the first couple of years, the couple was surprised how fast the business was growing. Now, they have created a vision, and are looking forward to much more growth. In a way, their techniques are simple: Look professional, satisfy the customer, and keep your promises.

“We attribute our growth to providing our customers an excellent experience at all levels,” says Devin, who is the company president. That includes incredibly fast order filling, a nicely presented package, and an absolute satisfaction guarantee. Several employees work solely on quality control, some checking the bead shipments as they come in, and others checking the orders before they go out.
“We have thrown out a lot of beads because they don’t meet our standards,” Devin says.

At their current 5,000+ square-foot building in Gig Harbor, they have about 3 million beads, sorted into hundreds of categories. Several rooms serve for various purposes, and the casually dressed employees seem relaxed, busy working, as the Kimuras go from one room to the next.

Even with the enormous inventory, they plan to make their move to the new building “overnight.” Wrapping Friday, boxing, and so on, repeat the steps backward at the new location — and be back up and running Monday. Not to worry, they’ve done it before. Plus, they have a great team of managers and staff.

The company sells beads, mostly high-end beads such as pearls and Swarovski, as well as all the supplies needed to make jewelry, from clasps to wire. Cynthia, who designs jewelry, creates new examples all the time. They are posted online in a learning center, so customers can get ideas and learn how to make them at home. Many buyers are professional jewelry makers.

Each order is beautifully wrapped before shipping, and the Website offers a free shipping option. “From day one, we wanted to have a wonderful presentation,” Kimura says. “We needed the customers to trust us right off the bat.” In the beginning, that meant making sacrifices in order to build loyalty. They looked at it as a long-term investment. As soon as they could, they diversified their selection, a move Kimura knew from his days as a stockbroker and financial planner.

The couple, who have equal ownership in the business, originally started out with beads from Bali. Now, they come from many other places, and are sold mostly in the United States but internationally as well. Devin’s brother, Carey, is the company art director and second vice president.

It took them a couple of years to realize their business outgrew their Olalla home’s garage. So they leased their first building, in September 2002, for five years. Before long, the 850 square feet became too crammed for the operation. “Having learned our lesson, or so we thought, we moved into a 3,000-square-foot building and signed a two-year lease,” Devin says.

That lasted a year. Learning yet another lesson — not to deal with leases, Kimura bought his current building. “We’ve totally outgrown it. We knew if would be a temporary measure,” he says.

Kimura gives high compliments to Pierce County staff for doing everything they could, and then some, in helping the company secure the Key Peninsula building. It’s a compliment Pierce County rarely gets, with its notoriously difficult permitting process. The Tacoma Pierce County Economic Development Board and Rep. Derek Kilmer, who works there when not in legislative sessions, are among those who also get credit for keeping the business in the county.

Having such an e-commerce company on the remote Key Peninsula, with its small retail and a few professional offices, may sound surprising. But all they really need is an Internet connection and a post office, Kimura says. Plus, they get plenty of parking — a whopping 93 spots. At their present building, it’s not unusual to see parking spots being created where none were before, and visitors may have a tough time altogether.

Devin says he knew zero about beads when he set out to create his Web site five years ago, but he thought about selling beads right away after seeing how “crazy” it was at the trade show where Cynthia took him.

“I had a cha-ching in my head,” he says. “There is a lot of demand. Beads are the oldest form of currency.” However, the success has backfired a little. Devin likes making glass beads, but his hobby took off, and now he doesn’t have the time for them.

But he’s not complaining. He and his wife are making sure they have a balanced life between the business and their family. The kids have a playroom that connects to Cynthia’s office and they visit frequently. At home, there is no work until dinner is done and kids are in bed. After that, it’s fair game.

“It’s so much fun, it’s hard not to be engaged at all levels,” Devin says.

The Kimuras say they work together great and have different strengths, yet the same vision. One of them is to add a few more dozen employees in the next few years.

“We’re still looking forward to the company maturing,” Devin says. In the meantime, they are creating jobs in their community and “servicing an industry of creative people” — and keeping up the enthusiasm while growing with the always-changing world of e-commerce.