Bayview Bead Store Open Tuesday to Sunday: SCRAP Depot

If you typed bead store into a map in San Francisco this year and found General Bead closed, the beads did not vanish. The family-run shop donated its entire inventory to SCRAP, the creative reuse nonprofit, and much of it now fills the bead aisles at the new SCRAP Depot, 141 Industrial St in the Bayview. The Depot opens 10 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Sunday and is closed on Monday. Expect secondhand and surplus stock rather than tidy catalog strands, which is exactly the appeal for anyone who likes digging.

For nearly four decades, General Bead was the city's biggest bead store, a family business whose aisles of beads, chains, findings and rhinestones served generations of Bay Area makers. When it closed, it gave everything to SCRAP. The San Francisco Standard reported in August 2026 that the nonprofit had just received millions of beads, and that staff were betting it could take years to sell through the collection.

SCRAP's own homepage invites former General Bead regulars to come and fill a bead bag, and in October the organization ran two bead volunteer days, an organizing session at General Bead on October 12 and an unloading session at the Depot on October 15, to bring over more of the stock. That means the bead shelves are still changing week to week as more boxes arrive and get sorted.

SCRAP stands for Scrounger's Center for Reusable Art Parts. It was founded in 1976 by arts leader Anne Marie Theilen and the sculptor Ruth Asawa, who served as founding board president for nearly two decades. The idea came from a practical gap: artists were being placed in public schools with no budget for materials, while local businesses were throwing out paper with old logos, fabric samples and industrial offcuts.

The organization bounced between city buildings for its early years and spent decades at 2150 Newcomb Ave until the school district reclaimed the site. Rather than rent again, SCRAP bought its own building on Industrial Street, and the new Depot opened on Saturday, August 15. The shop floor is about 10,000 square feet, five times the size of the old depot, and unlike the old space it has big windows, which helps a lot when you are trying to tell navy glass from black.

Treat SCRAP as a treasure hunt rather than a catalog store. Beads sit alongside the jewelry section, vintage goods, yarn, fabric, notions and paper, and the stock depends on what has been donated and sorted that week. You will not find a guaranteed restock of a particular seed bead color, so if you see enough of a shade for your project, take it then.

Bring your own bag if you can, and give yourself an hour. Purchases support SCRAP's arts education work and keep materials out of landfill, and the organization also gives supplies to teachers at little or no cost through its educator program. SCRAP runs an eBay storefront for antiques, books, art and collectibles, but the bead stock is an in-person experience, so the Depot itself is where to go.

The building is more than a shop. Of its roughly 26,000 square feet, about 16,000 are set aside for workshops, offices and other arts groups, and the new classroom has concrete floors, big windows and butcher-block tables. Classes resumed there on September 15 with community sessions in bookmaking and printmaking, so a bead run can easily turn into an afternoon class if the timing lines up.

If you have materials to give back, donation drop-off runs Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm through October 24, pauses from October 25 to November 2, and then reopens on November 3 with an 11 am start. More than two boxes needs an appointment, and the donation guidelines on the website list what the team can accept.

The Depot is in the Silver Terrace pocket of the Bayview, just east of Bayshore Boulevard. There is a gated parking lot on site, and SCRAP asks drivers to enter only through the gate on Industrial. From Highway 101 southbound, take the Cesar Chavez and Bayshore exit, follow Bayshore and turn left onto Industrial, and the building is mid-block on the right.

By Muni, the 24 Divisadero stops at Industrial Street and Elmira Street, about a two-minute walk. The 44 O'Shaughnessy stops at Silver Avenue and Revere Avenue, about six minutes on foot, and also links to Glen Park BART. The 23 Monterey stops at Oakdale Avenue and Toland Street, roughly six minutes away. SCRAP also points visitors to the Muni Bayview Shuttle, booked through its app, which connects to 24th Street BART and the 22nd Street and Bayshore Caltrain stations.

If you come on a Saturday, the Alemany Farmers Market at 100 Alemany Blvd is about a ten-minute walk west, across Bayshore and under the freeway. It opened in 1943 and is often described as California's first farmers market, and the same lot hosts a flea market on Sundays, so a weekend morning can pair produce or vintage finds with an afternoon in the bead aisles.

Closer by, Industrial Street itself is a working strip of warehouses and light industry, which is part of why a 26,000-square-foot reuse building fits here. Bernal Heights rises just to the northwest, and a walk up to Bernal Heights Park gives one of the city's widest views back over the Bayview and the bay if you want a break after sorting through bins.

Address: SCRAP Depot, 141 Industrial St, #1, San Francisco, CA 94124, in the Bayview. Shop hours: Monday closed, Tuesday 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday 10 am to 6 pm, Thursday 10 am to 6 pm, Friday 10 am to 6 pm, Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 10 am to 6 pm.

SCRAP does not post bead prices online, and stock changes as donations are sorted, so come with a project in mind but stay flexible. Workshops in the new classroom are listed on Eventbrite through the SCRAP website. To find a lunch spot or a second craft stop nearby, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP.