Pham Dinh Nguyen of Vietnam liked the tiny town of Buford, Wyoming, so much he forked over $900,000 and bought it.
The coffee importer was intrigued when he learned that the town – billed as the smallest in the US with just one resident – was being auctioned off .
Owner Don Sammons – the one resident – had turned it into something of a tourist attraction on Highway 80, a place where travelers could buy gas, snacks and other road essentials.
But Sammons decided to sell the tiny burg, and Nguyen traveled from Asia to Wyoming to bid at the auction after reading about the sale on the Internet.
The businessman said he had always hoped to expand his coffee business to the US, and hopes people will sample his PhinDeli brand of java when they pass through Buford.
“Everybody has a dream,” he said a video promoting PhinDeli coffee. “So do I. I have an American dream. [But] this is more than that — this the most famous town in the world: the smallest US town.”
Sammons, who paid $155,000 for Buford back in 1992, told ABC News he has written a book about his adventure as well as the town’s.
“Buford One: The True Story of How One Man Built a Town and Sold it to the World” should be available from Amazon.com next month, he said.