Local jewelry maker Annie Austen opened her first brick-and-mortar store in Zona Rosa last July. The eponymous shop sells the affordable, tarnish-free, hypoallergenic jewelry that Austen built a following for at local pop-ups, a third-floor booth at Bella Patina, and online at shopannieausten.com.
Austen’s journey to jewelry wasn’t direct. After college, she worked as a consultant and then as a recruiter for Cerner. Along the way, she built a social media following doing influencer marketing for local businesses. It was only after a late-2019 layoff and the onset of the pandemic that she started making custom mask chains—and by 2023, she had successful physical and online jewelry stores.
On July 13, she’s opening a new store just steps away from her first shop. It’s called Gifted, a new concept for Austen that’s “part party shop, part stationery store, and part gift shop.” It will sell items for all ages, offer store-exclusive charms, and put a spotlight on other local brands.
We spoke with Austen prior to Gifted’s grand opening.
On her brand sharing her name:
“A big reason I ended up choosing my name for my brand was to capitalize on the really wonderful group of people I had already started to get to know [doing influencer marketing] in the Kansas City area. Keeping that consistency was important, and I think it ended up being really beneficial from a marketing perspective.
“It’s funny, now, there are people who have been following me for years on Instagram and things like that—and people who don’t realize that the brand is the person. [Laughs] Like, that there is an Annie Austen. It’s weird having a brand that shares your name, right? Because you don’t want to come off as being self-obsessed or something like that. But it kind of just worked, and I kind of figured, ‘Oh, Kate Spade and Kendra Scott can do it, why not me too? Because my name is catchy and people will remember it.’”
On her brand’s success:
“What I feel like has worked so well for the Annie Austen vibe is focusing on prices, focusing on jewelry that’s going to hold up and not turn you green. Because that was a huge grievance I had against affordable jewelry before. It was so hard to find stuff that wouldn’t turn my skin green, and we don’t need to look green. That’s not cute.”
On Gifted:
“Gifted is right between a parking lot and 54th Street, and the number of people [I see] coming in with balloons and cakes … to go have a special dinner at 54th Street or Hereford House, I feel like Gifted is going to be the perfect spot [for them].
“I am the person who is like, ‘Gosh darn it, I was supposed to get birthday candles for the cake that I picked up, and did I buy them? No. And do I want to go into Target or Walmart? No, I don’t. I don’t want to have to hunt down birthday candles in that store.’ So I think that it’s going to be such a great place to just pop in, grab exactly what you need, make it affordable, and get on your way.
“We’re going to have a wide variety of under $2 items that you can just kind of throw in there—think slime, jumbo bubbles, candy, stuff like that that just make a gift a little bit extra fun. But then also, we have a really nice variety of locally made items that might be at a higher price point but that are at investment pieces and are really meaningful and make absolutely beautiful gifts to give anybody on your list.”
On lifting up other small businesses:
“So many of the opportunities afforded to us have been because of our connections with other small businesses. We found out about this space and this opportunity here at Zona Rosa because of the plant shop that’s two doors down. Roots KC is amazing. They [also] were our neighbors whenever we first opened in Bella Patina.
“So I think that because so many people have been remarkably kind to us, I really want to share that same level of care and opportunity to as many businesses as I can. We try and bring in small businesses to do pop-ups. Any time we think there’s going to be some extra traffic, we’re always trying to bring in a pop-up vendor, someone who would benefit from an air-conditioned space on a Saturday.
“It was not that long ago that we were so thankful for every single place—you know, RE, Shop Local KC, and Strawberry Swing—you know, all of these different places that have always been so welcoming to us. We’re trying to pass that kindness on.”
Responses were edited for length and clarity.