Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Couple started with flea markets, expanded to brick-and-mortar location at Skyline

Even when Bill Busse was a child, he was collecting.

At that age, he said he remembers going to church rummage sales, and at the end of the sale, they would offer people the chance to fill a bag for a dollar. He would take advantage of the sale and walk away with some neat finds — some of which he still has today.

That love for the hunt — whether it be at garage sales, estate sales or online auctions — continues to this day.

“I guess that’s like my drug, adrenaline — finding a really good thing — and then I get that adrenaline again when I sell it,” he said.

Busse and his wife, Leslie Kaup, took this passion and started their own business, Midwest Crossroads Market, in October 2023 in Skyline Plaza and are gaining a loyal following around the area. The business specializes in antiques, collectibles, curiosities and one-of-a-kind finds. There’s everything from animal skulls and hides to antique weaponry, medical oddities, records, old political buttons, antique toys, trinkets, Albert Lea memorabilia and books.

“I like strange things, one-of-a-kind things,” Busse said.

Busse said when they first moved to the area there wasn’t really an outlet for the kinds of things they do. They started looking for a flea market to participate in, but they all weren’t close enough.

“We thought about it and said, ‘Why not start our own flea markets?’” he said.

So that’s exactly what they did, mostly at the Freeborn County Fairgrounds. He estimated this was their sixth year of the markets.

Eventually there got to be so much stuff in their house, and he said it made sense to work out of a building rather than their own home.

They opened the shop and continued to do regular flea markets as well — considering it good advertising for the business.

In the time they have been at Skyline, a handful of their vendors from their markets have established their own stores near Busse’s. There’s 35/90 Clothing Company, Rodeo Records and Mimi & Papa’s.

Busse and Kaup next plan to manage Skyline Antiques, an antique mall, in the plaza, where they will sell their own antique furniture and glassware, and other vendors will rent rooms to showcase their items.

Busse said it has helped them all to be at Skyline together as it has become a destination for both locals and out-of-town visitors.

“The whole idea is to create a destination, so when people drive by on these two big highways, they go, ‘Isn’t there a neat mall in Albert Lea where you can see all this cool stuff and buy collectibles?’ And it’s already happening — they’re already doing it.”

The first weekend in February they were planning the Albert Lea Toy Show and Mid-Winter Flea Market at Skyline, where people could also get a sneak peek at the antique mall. He hoped that would be ready to open more regularly in March.

Busse said if people have items they want him to consider purchasing, he encouraged people to either bring them in or bring him a photo of the item.