Age: 39

Address: Alden

Livelihood: He intends to marry Pam Hinnenkamp in May. She has six children, and he has five children.

Family: store owner and auctioneer

Interesting fact: He drove a bus for Lake Crystal Motor Coaches for seven years and still drives part-time.

Brad Wojahn is now involved with a local business that has two locations and two different purposes, and he’s enjoying both aspects of his new ventures.

One of those ventures is 2nds R Best, 919 W. Main St., which features quality pre-owned merchandise like furniture, housewares, tools, lawn and garden items and antiques.

“We opened this store in December,” he said. His new business has five display rooms and is at the same location some area residents might associate with the former Marv’s Gun Shop.

The items in this store, as the name implies, are second hand. However, Wojahn adds, “ We steam clean everything, even the dining room chairs.”

There’s another aspect of this business that uses the 2nds R Best name and is located in another part of the city. It is the 2nds R Best Auction Center at 918 S. Broadway Ave., which was ready to go on April 1. This site was formerly used by an auto parts store.

Wojahn is also an auctioneer. He went to Continental Auction School in Mankato during 2000 and now has license number 24-1174.

The first auction at this second location was April 15. The next auction is tonight, and the next dates scheduled so far are May 11 and 25. He added that there’s plenty of parking in front of and behind this second location.

“We picked Albert Lea because the two highways (interstates) come together here. It’s a nice town to be in and very convenient for us,” is how he explains the selection of this city for his new business ventures.

Wojahn was born and grew up in Tracy, graduated from high school in Cannon Falls, moved back to southwest Minnesota and lived for a time in Lafayette (near New Ulm). He met Pam Hinnenkamp two years ago and they lived in New Richland until making a very recent move to Alden.

“Business has been good and an enjoyable experience so far,” he said.

Hours of operations at the West Main Street location are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.