In the early 1990s, George and Lucy Dill opened a monthly resale market on CR 271, selling mostly odds and ends, furniture and housewares scavenged from auctioned storage units and estates.

“We ran the first Saturday garage sale—that’s what we called it—and it was one day a month,” George said. “A few years ago, we kind of got tired and we closed up. Then, we started back in January of this year.”

Lucy said that previously, traffic to their property on the county road all but halted with the construction of Toll 183A.

“Business was pretty slim after the road went in. People stopped coming because if they missed the turn, they had to go all the way around,” she said. “But for three years now, everyone’s had a chance to get used to it.”

Last year the Dills connected with Jim Mosner, a commercial broker involved in neighboring land deals. Seeing the property’s potential, Mosner spearheaded an overhaul of the flea market, cleaning, remodeling, moving and repainting many of the structures on site, including a few murals.

“What really drove the reopening here was all of the land development going on around it. George gave me the grand tour, and it just fascinated me,” Mosner said. “I told him: ‘This is a little gold mine here, you can develop this.’ And that’s when he shared with me his vision for the property.”

Six buildings now comprise The Shops at Leander Flea Market, a collection of permanent resale stores open Thursday through Sunday, while day vendors and farmers sell from truck beds and folding tables on weekends. Mosner said over the next several months, he hopes he can continue improvements and recruit more sellers, food carts and produce vendors.

“Eventually we would love to have some farmers come out and sell fresh produce. George is offering free rent to farmers because we want to make it cost-effective for them,” Mosner said. “We would also like have more food vendors here, and we are working on a little playground for the kids. The whole idea here is to create a family destination where the locals can come out and just enjoy a nice afternoon, shop and eat at a place that’s uniquely Leander.”

 

The Leander Marketplace is open rain or shine: Fridays 12-6, Saturdays & Sundays 10-6 and offers second-hand and repurposed furniture, collectibles, antiques, children’s toys, jewelry, art, and more