Mark Vazquez, the owner of K&M Jewelers, has been a rock fanatic since he was a child, but not in the way some may think. He would collect fossils, crystals and rocks from surrounding areas and shops as a kid, and this passion found him again in adulthood in one of the most unexpected ways.

“One day, in 1980 or 1978, I was doing construction like every other young guy does around here,” Vazquez said. “I saw this older guy broke down on the side of the road. I stopped to help him out, and it turned out he was from England. I got a kick out of the way he talked. We became friends after that and one day he said, ‘You have the hands of a jeweler. Have you ever thought about becoming one?’”

Little did Vazquez know at the time, this man, Basil Barion, was one of the former master jewelers for De Beers Diamond Company, the second largest diamond company in the world to this day. This fateful encounter then led to the next three years of Vazquez’s life as a jeweler’s apprentice. The intense program left Vazquez with all of the skills necessary to become a master jeweler, the same as his teacher.

In 1987, Vasquez took his Jewelers of America Certified Master Bench Jeweler Certification test, or CMBJ test. He passed and became a master, then immediately began selling his pieces. The first location he sold his jewelry was at the Golden Hills Resort in Lead, South Dakota. During the 1990’s, he would sell them off of a shelf in the lobby, where there would be a lot of tourist traffic. 

In 1999, he had finally saved enough money for materials and began building his first jewelry shop in Custer Crossing, South Dakota. In this location, no one would stop to enter his shop as the traffic was mostly people trying to make it to Deadwood, Sturgis or Rapid City as fast as they could, which made his business a black hole for money. Vazquez then came across the rare opportunity to buy the property that his current shop sits on just a year later.

Becoming a master jeweler and an independent business owner was a difficult task to undertake. Both endeavors take years of dedication to find any semblance of success. As a master jeweler, one must know how to grade stones, create designs, engrave pieces and many other specialized tasks. It has become even more challenging to become a master due to a lack of support from a stable community. The overarching guild of jewelers is slowly dwindling.

In 2015, there were around 21,000 jewelry stores in the United States, including corporate and independently owned stores, according to a study by Statista Research Department. As of 2023, that number has dropped to around 17,600, a 16 percent decrease in just eight years.

“I’ve had people come to me to do apprenticeships before,” Vazquez said. “I can never get them to stick around. I do it for free, but they’ll only stick around for long enough to make one, maybe two pieces, and then I’ll never see or hear from them again. It’s a dying art…it makes me sad.”

There is also a noticeable drop in quality as corporate jewelers take over more and more of the market.

“I don’t want to name names, but most companies, when they manufacture [jewelry], they make it as cheap as possible as fast as possible, and most people unfortunately don’t know that they end up with junk,” Vazquez said. “People will bring their own jewelry in wanting to know how much it’s worth and I’ll say, ‘Do you want me to lie to you or do you want me to tell the truth?’”

Larger corporations’ practices when it comes to jewelling bother Vazquez, as he thinks quite a lot of them overcharge for the quality of their pieces, or outright lie about the piece they are selling. Contrary to the larger companies, Vazquez is a known perfectionist who prizes every piece he makes. If he doesn’t like the way a piece turns out, he refuses to sell it. Patrons appreciate Vazquez’s work ethic, but it’s his uplifting attitude that really sticks with his customers. One quick glance at the online reviews of his shop will quickly put any doubts to rest.

“This guy knows a lot about gemstones, and let me know what I had, and even explained and let me look around a little bit,” said Timothy Skaggs on Google Reviews. “He had a lot of neat and high-quality stuff to look at. I would recommend K&M Jewelers to the new and old rock enthusiast if you don’t really know what you’ve found, this guy is very knowledgeable. I thank you very much for your help. I drove 120 miles. And guess what my gemstone cluster was only worth about 5 bucks, I was very happy anyway and took it back home with me. I would like to thank this gentleman for the way he treated me. I was treated like I had a million-dollar item with me, thanks for being kind sir.”

Vazquez’s focus on ensuring that everyone visiting his shop feels like a part of the K&M family is a conscious decision. That makes his business acumen even more apparent.

“People come in and I treat them like I’ve known them forever,” Vazquez said. “I love telling them stories, and I don’t let my head swell.”

Vazquez puts a lot of effort into curating his collection. This includes his custom pieces of jewelry, raw and cut minerals, fossils and smaller trinkets. Many of his pieces hold sentimental value, and some are collected through relationships he’s made throughout his career.

“I source my minerals from all over the world. We go to big gem shows and source our raw minerals there, but we’ve made a lot of friends around the world,” Vazquez said. “Sometimes they’ll contact me and say, ‘I’ve got this are you interested?’ And I usually say ship it. it’s really cool that we have that [option]… In general, I sell a lot of the more touristy stuff like our carved roses, and tiny minerals.”

Vazquez finds comfort in his customers’ demand for the carved trinkets because they were made for him by a friend who passed away. Vazquez’s business community even extends out to Minnesota, where another friend runs a non-domestic animal farm and collects pelts from the creatures once they pass on from natural causes – Vazquez often helps his friend sell the pelts and donates the proceeds back into the animal shelter.

Not only does Vazquez make sure that these pelts find good homes, he also makes sure that his own mix of live animals find healthy fulfilling lives on his property in Deadwood. He houses over 50 animals, including wolves, foxes and coyotes. 

“I just want to let people know that these aren’t mean, nasty animals,” Vazquez said. “They’re some of the most loyal and affectionate animals you’ll find. I always joke with people that if you want a vicious animal, get a domestic dog, but a wolf or coyote or fox will be so amazing if they know you.”

While the purest of intentions are behind his actions, not everyone in the area shares his passion for sheltering animals of that nature.

“The city of Deadwood actually tried to sue me back a couple years ago,” Vazquez said. “[They] said that they didn’t want vicious animals so close to town. I ended up winning because there’s nothing inhumane about the way I treat my animals, and there’s never been an incident of my animals being a nuisance or anything.

Anyone who visits this section of Vazquez’s property can see that the animals are treated with love and care. They are visibly healthy, with bright, shining coats and a rampant excitement when Vazquez approaches the paddocks. Vazquez uses a large portion of his profits from the shop towards caring for the animals and he also accepts donations towards the animals as well.

“Most people think that if someone owns a business, they’re rich,” Vazquez said. “Whatever money I make, goes right back into the business.”

No matter how rich or poor a business owner is, Vazquez most definitely has made an experience out of his shop.

“You can get anything here,” Vazquez said. “From colored diamonds to a complete dinosaur skeleton, and I think that’s pretty damn cool.”