Auctioneer Randy Wester explains just how much stuff there is to sell. "Belk has got a big history here. Everybody that's grown up around the Raleigh area, they know of this store, they visited this store as a child, teenager or adult.
"It has so many various things in it from restaurant equipment to office furniture to these beautiful displays and the decorations. We have artwork to be sold, neon signs. We've got hundreds of chairs, mannequins.
"There are rooms that we are now discovering.
"We've been working for a month down here, and we still haven't gotten through all the piles. There's stuff everywhere, and this stuff is so expensive new.
"Each time we come out, we drag out something new and different.
"Including Snoopy here, my buddy Snoopy. We've got three or four of these to sell. You never know what somebody might use these things for. There are awesome things in here, and I don't know what they are.
"There's five floors, 175,000 square feet of merchandise here. Just all kinds of neat, one of a kind items that you'll probably never have a chance to buy again.
"I think it's going to be a chance for everybody to come home with a little bit of history from the downtown Raleigh area."
People can preview the goods in person on Friday.
The auction is set for the next three Saturdays. As for the old Belk building, plans are in the works to turn the old department store into a 60 space condo with retail shops on the ground floor.
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