While driving this afternoon, I heard a story on All Things Considered that just tickled me. The Fifth Avenue Grocery in Roundup, Montana closed it's doors in 1952, and they were not opened again for fifty years. What was unusal was that everything was left in the store the whole time.

‘‘One of the problems was that they had so much stuff gathered around them,’’ Braun said of Louis and Ann Pluth. ‘‘They apparently didn’t throw anything away.’’ Braun said he didn’t enter the store until after Louis’ death, and he had no idea why the family never reopened it or tried to sell off the belongings. It may have been that Louis and Ann were too busy.

One of the auctioneers was interviewed by NPR, and he mentioned that the money was left in the till, and the heat was left on in the basement (I'd hate to imagine the utility bill). In the basement, they also found the remains of a Prohibition-era speakeasy bar, complete with alcohol and a player piano with about 200 rolls of music.

The auction will be tomorrow at 1 PM (RMST). Take a peek at the stuff!