The Daily BuzzBikinis, Texas now name of town bought by businessman
Doug Guller owns a restaurant chain and has just renamed the town he recently purchased after it
We've recently reported on some towns around the world that have been put up for sale and sold, but until now we haven't heard of anything exciting happening in these towns.
Doug Guller, who owns a bar and restaurant chain in Texas, purchased the long-abandoned Texas town of Bankersmith after seeing an ad on Craigslist.
To shake things up, he renamed the town Bikinis. It's to expand on the bar/restaurant combo Bikinis, which he also created. The eatery, opened in 2001, is a place where women serve drinks and food in bikinis.
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"Bikinis, Texas, will be a world-class destination, and I am thrilled to expand the Bikinis brand to include town ownership," Guller said to the Statesman. "There can't be a better way to put Bikinis on the map, literally."
Guller plans to host events in the town and he is hoping the first one will be this fall. He purchased the town for an undisclosed amount.
Dan Rogers, president and CEO of the Kendall County Economic Development Corp. told the Statesman he expects visitors to Bikinis will also stop by other tourist attractions such as Cascade Caverns.
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Bankersmith/Bikinis isn't the only town put up for sale recently. The Tuscan village of Pratariccia was put up for sale on eBay last month. The 800-year-old hamlet in the Italian hillside was listed for about $3.2 million.
In April, an unidentified buyer from Vietnam purchased the town of Buford, Wyoming for $900,000. It had a population of one - Don Sammons. Sammons moved there with his wife in 1980 and purchased the town in 1992, six years after his wife died. The 61-year-old Sammons decided to sell the town and move in with his son in Colorado.
For the buyer, he said in a Reuters article, "Owning a piece of property in the U.S. has been my dream."
Pray, Montana, population eight, was also up on the market this past spring. It had a list price of $1.4 million.
The town of Garryown, Montana is also going to be auctioned off on Aug. 15
Bankersmith was founded in 1913 as a railroad town. It was named after Temple Doswell Smith, a banker who helped fund railroad construction. The population dwindled after the tracks were abandoned in 1935, and by 1949 there were just 20 residents. Today there are none, but that may change. Especially if the town is aptly-named.
