Attention K-Mart shoppers…

Here’s a remarkable story of generosity and charity:

A Kentucky businessman has bought out the entire stock of a closing-down Kmart store and donated it to charity.

Rankin Paynter runs a gold and jewellery buying centre in the Winchester area and knows how tough life can be for his hard-up customers.

When he was shopping at the store for his own business, he asked what would happen to the leftover inventory when the shop closed in two days.

Six hours and four cash registers later, Mr Paynter had cleared out the entire shop – at a personal cost of $200,000.

‘To be honest, I could have made thirty to forty thousand dollars on it,’ he told NBC.

He even rented out a building to hold the haul until it could be donated to a local community centre.

Grateful for the success for his local business, Mr Paytner said he wanted to do something good for his customers.

‘It’s time to give back, you follow me?’ he said.

Mr Paytner – who set up his buying-and-selling business in 1965 – said that he knows how tough life can be for working families.

Especially during the colder months.

‘It was hard sometimes; I had rags on my feet sometimes. I only had summer slippers,’ he said about his less-affluent past.

‘But there won’t be any needy people cold this winter I don’t think,’ he continued.

Judy Crowe of Clark County Community Services, who received the huge donation, said they’d never received such a large gift before.

‘It was certainly unexpected. Businessmen are [usually] in business to make money,’ she said

‘This will be the first year we’ve had enough hats, gloves and coats for all the people we serve.’