Prairie Profiles: Norma Nelson

Published 9:13 am Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I won’t move again,” declared Norma Nelson, who has operated Midwest Antiques at three locations in the city through the years.

Her store, which specializes in the sales of mementos of the past, is at 302 S. Broadway Ave.

As a lifelong Freeborn Country resident, Nelson remembers when her present location, the Wedge-Jones Building, was occupied on the main floor and basement by the Wallace Department Store. However, she said there were no traces at all of this store left when her business was relocated to this site at the West Main Street intersection with South Broadway Avenue.

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Nelson grew up in Glenville where she graduated from that community’s high school in 1965

“I’ve been married 41 years, and we’ve lived in the same home for 39 years,” she said.

After 13 years employment at the Good Samaritan Society, Nelson started Midwest Antiques on South Washington Avenue. After a year or two she moved to a building on West College Street, then to the present spot two years ago.

Like many antique business owners, she rents space to about 35 dealers, or what are also called consignors. Some of these dealers have more than one space or niche within the building. Thus, a large portion of the antiques on the main floor and in the large basement of this building are being displayed and for sale by the various dealers or consignors.

“We have to find out what’s selling and what’s not selling,” she explained about one of the major challenges of this business.

One example Nelson cites is glassware, which may be really popular in one area and not selling in other locations.

Midwest Antiques has a surprising variety of items from the past. They include novelties, advertising gimmicks, old signs, bottles, sheet music, collectibles of many kinds, toys, dolls, pottery, glassware, what are called primitives, furniture, several Indian items from the Southwest, older books and magazines, and Scandinavian mementos, especially those with Norwegian origins.

Age: 61

Address:

north side

of Albert Lea

Livelihood:

owner of Midwest Antiques

Family: husband, James; children Traci, Julie and Jeff; three grandchildren

Interesting fact: She enjoys watching NASCAR on the weekends.

“This is a place which revives memories for customers,” Nelson said.

“It’s always fun when new things come in. I can look at them before they’re sold,” she explained. “I just like having some things around.”

Nelson, incidentally, agreed with the old saying that says one person’s junk is another person’s treasure, And what really gives this saying real meaning is the way some folks and even dealers from other localities are looking for specific items for their hobbies, special collections or unusual articles to sell to others.

“This is a location with a lot more traffic, Nelson observed as she looked out at what’s still Albert Lea’s main intersection.

Thanks to advertising in several brochure guides to antique stores located in area towns, some folks come into Albert Lea looking specifically for her store.

“I get a lot of interstate business. Most of my customers come from a 100-mile radius,” she said.