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Every day for the past six weeks, someone has walked into Texas Jewelry and cried.
They grieve for wedding rings sized here, watches repaired, heirlooms entrusted to strangers who became friends. After 60 years, the family-owned jeweler at Trinity Valley Shopping Center is closing, and customers know they won't find another store like it.
"It's not because they can't find another jewelry store," said Michelle Randall-Long, co-owner. "I really think it's because they can't find another one of us."
The story begins in 1965 with a young couple, five children under age 6, and a leap of faith. Tom and Kay Randall stood outside a vacant storefront at Webb Chapel and Royal Lane, staring at a dirt floor waiting for concrete. Tom Randall turned to his wife and asked, "You think we can do it?"
Kay was not yet 30, managing five children born within six and a half years. The odds seemed impossible.
"We were very brave, and we were very ignorant of what could happen," Kay Randall, now 89, said. "We just looked for the positive, and the positive happened."
Tom bought a small jewelry store in Garland, then opened the first Texas Jewelry location in 1965 at Webb Chapel and Royal Lane. The business grew to four locations across North Texas, each run by a family member. The five Randall children Michael, Michelle, Doug, David and Danny all worked in the stores, learning a philosophy that would sustain the business for six decades.
"Customer service was ingrained," Randall-Long said. "It is probably the top trait that has kept us in business. Because we've never advertised. It's just been word-of-mouth."
Michael Randall fled to college seeking independence before returning and realizing his father "as the boss was not so bad after all." In December 1984, he and his youngest brother David opened the Carrollton location.
The business never modernized conventionally. No computerized systems. No online shopping. Handwritten receipts, just like in the 1970s. What Texas Jewelry offered instead was something competitors couldn't replicate: genuine relationships.
"Jewelry is a very intimate thing, and you don't just leave or repair your jewelry with just anybody," Kay Randall said.
Michelle Randall-Long calls it something else. "It's a ministry."
Customers share their life stories within 20 minutes. Births, deaths, divorces, marriages. Every milestone finds its way through these doors. There's an attachment to jewelry unlike anything else, Randall-Long said.
Kay Randall learned jewelry repair from the store's master watchmaker, sizing rings and soldering charms by the thousands. For 30 years, a certified master watch and clockmaker worked alongside the family.
The business survived what broke others. When the stock market crashed, jewelry stores throughout the region closed. In 2019, an elderly woman accidentally drove completely through the store, destroying everything and hospitalizing an employee. The family rebuilt, only to face COVID-19 shutdowns.
"If we survived those incidents, then, you know, that says something," Randall-Long said.
Relationships mattered more than profit margins. During the liquidation sale, Michael Randall heard stories from 30 years ago, including customers recalling when the family donated to their children's chess club when nobody else would.
"The wealth that I've gained is in my heart and soul and not in my pocketbook," Randall said. "It's been a true pleasure to be a part of a community that values our services and our trust as much as we value them as customers and friends."
But every family business faces limits. Michael and his wife never had children. His siblings' children pursued different careers. There is no third generation. At 68 and with the lease expiring in 2026, Michael knew the time had come.
"It is just time," he said. "We toppled sales records we'd never dreamed of and thought we might as well walk away with our head held high, all debts paid."
For Kay Randall, whose husband Tom passed away 14 years ago, the decision carries profound weight.
"It makes me very sad that we don't have a third generation to take over," she said. "We're all very happy because we get to retire, but we're all extremely sad. It's been an emotional roller coaster for all of us."
The family hopes to sell the business to someone who will preserve their values. When the doors close, Michael and his wife plan to travel to Thailand, Vietnam and Iceland. Michelle and her husband will leave for somewhere quieter to ride motorcycles.
"It's a fun job," Randall-Long said. "Playing in jewelry all day, I can't think of worse things to do."
As the final days approach, the Randalls reflect on what made their family business endure where so many others failed.
"I wouldn't say we're an icon in the community," Michael Randall said, "but I find that we were doing a good job and we were helping people. I am part of the Carrollton community."
After 60 years, Texas Jewelry will close its doors. But for thousands of customers across Metrocrest, the memories will remain of a family that turned strangers into friends, one ring, one watch, one heirloom at a time.
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