58 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine BUSINESS, FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP KEITH AUSTIN OWNER Austins Fine Jewelry Las Cruces, NM Keith Austin is a jeweler, gemologist and entrepreneur who has celebrated more than 45 years in the fine jewelry industry and over 37 years as the owner of Austins Fine Jewelry. Since 1988, the store has been a fixture in the Las Cruces community, providing a unique suite of services including appraisals, repairs, new and used jewelry sales, and trade-ins. A lifelong collector, Mr. Austin’s interest in gemology began with a passion for antiques and ephemera. His earliest collections included New Mexico-manufactured glass bottles from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he later acquired a sizable collection of date nails from railroads and other industrial sites. A curious student with a love of learning, he did well in school despite struggling with dyslexia and developed a handson approach to problem-solving that would become the foundation of his later career. As one of the top students in his graduating high school class, Mr. Austin earned a scholarship and began college at just 16 years old. He left school during his sophomore year after recognizing that personal challenges were putting his studies at risk and accepted his first job with Sears Roebuck Co. at a store in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Over the next 15 years, he found and built on his talent for retail management, overseeing Sears store locations in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. In 1978, Mr. Austin made his first foray into entrepreneurship as the owner of a small gift shop. He ran the store successfully for a year and a half until the decline of the local oil industry, the community’s biggest employer, caused a larger economic downturn that resulted in the closure of the shop. While on a trip to visit friends in Las Cruces in 1980, Mr. Austin noticed a small jewelry store that caught his attention and walked in to inquire about job openings. He was hired on the spot and relocated to Las Cruces with his wife over the next two weeks. He remained at the store, Glenn Cutter’s Jewelry Store, for the next eight years. Despite having no prior experience in fine jewelry, his love of collecting and strong retail background made him a natural fit, and he quickly built a reputation for his attention to detail and passion for the industry.
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