On May 20th, 2011 a group called the Store Buyout Team walked into Hercules’ Fancy Grocery in West Village New York City and bought everything in the store. The purchase created a sales receipt in excess of 57 feet long with over 3,000 individually entered items, which the group reasonably believes to be the world's longest receipt.
"We are submitting the facts and video evidence to the Guinness World Records for confirmation, but we've never heard of another group buying out an entire store before," points out Kyle MacDonald, a member of the Store Buyout Team.
The group learned that Hercules Fancy Grocery was going through landlord troubles and was being forced to relocate. So they raised $20,000, walked into the store unannounced, and proceeded to buy everything in the store.
"We wanted to give Hercules (the owner) his best sales day ever" says Jody Gnant, a team member.
Retail items from the store are being resold on the group's website, www.storebuyout.com to recuperate costs and help raise funds to help Hercules Dimitratos through his rough spell.
The original purchase receipt is now being auctioned on eBay.
http://storebuyout.com/ebay
With over 34 bids cast, the 57 foot long piece of paper is up to more than $1,025 with a reserve price set at the actual total dollar figure it cost to buyout the store.
Says Kyle MacDonald, "The reserve price is top secret, but is in the $18,000 - $20,000 range. We've kept it secret so only the person who wins the auction will know the actual price."
The auction ends on Aug 9.
But if you can't wait for this artefact of pop culture, if you are not patient enough, you can always pull out your wallet and Buy-it-Now for $1 Million.
The receipt also includes "free delivery to any location on earth" and "an interactive speaking engagement" by members of the Store Buyout Team.
Says team member Matt Fidler, "We will use profits from the sale of this receipt to help find Hercules the store of his dreams."
But a million dollars?
"Hercules is an institution in the West Village. He's been there for 40 years. He's got lots of friends and people spend large amounts of money on collectible artefacts all the time. Who's to say somebody won't come through and make this dream of ours a reality? If you never try something, you'll never find out if it's possible!"
For more information, please contact Kyle MacDonald at One Red Paperclip, Inc. by phone by email (
email@storebuyout.com)
eBay auction:
www.storebuyout.com/ebay
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