One thing about our region, there is certainly no shortage of talent or creative ways to connect with others.

Imagine going shopping, paying $20 at the door, and walking out with as much as you can carry.

No limit, no checkout line, just one trip to the door.

"Carolina Impact"'s Chris Clark shows us how it's not a game show, but a warehouse in Gastonia that's turning bargain hunting into a full-contact sport.

(playful music) - [Chris] It sounds made up when you first hear it.

- Well, this can't be true.

- [Chris] A warehouse where for $20 you keep whatever you can carry.

- Almost every time, jaws drop.

They're like, what?

- [Chris] No trick.

- I've got my pockets.

- [Chris] No catch.

- I love it.

- [Chris] No timer.

- You can't beat that.

- [Chris] Just you.

- My wife loves to come down there too.

I don't know where she got to.

- [Chris] And the question of how much of the world you can hold in your hands.

- Ding, ding.

- You almost feel like you're stealing stuff.

- [Chris] And a painted line on the floor.

- Oh yeah.

- [Chris] Welcome to the Mystery Box Warehouse, where $20 gets you anything in the building as long as you can carry it out in one trip.

- I made it.

- [Chris] An idea that didn't start out as a business, but rather a problem.

- My mother-in-law moved in with us about four years ago.

We had estate sales to try and sell the stuff that she couldn't bring with her.

- [Chris] After a month of estate sales, the place still wasn't cleared.

- I just did a Facebook Live video and said, look guys, I gotta get rid of this stuff.

Come pay me $5 at the door, and then everything in the house is free.

And we literally had more people come that weekend, move more stuff that weekend, and made more money that weekend than the whole month prior.

- [Chris] When Bill's father passed away a few months later, that lesson stuck.

Faced with clearing a 5,000-square-foot home and a lifetime of belongings charities wouldn't take, he chose a different path.

Instead of the dump, he rented a warehouse and made a simple deal.

$20, carry what you can.

And what was supposed to last a month didn't stop.

- I thought it was a little crazy, but I also thought it was a great idea.

And it's sad to see someone's whole life going to the landfill.

- We started with that room right there, that 1,000 square feet.

Within a couple of weeks, it was full.

- [Chris] Bill quickly learned he wasn't alone, and people wanted in.

- I've got a three-bedroom house in here.

- [Chris] The phone rang immediately for help.

Pickups are free and happen every day but Tuesday.

- A lot of the time it's furniture.

Usually, it's somebody moving out, somebody passed away, somebody's downsizing, or somebody just found out about us and was like, hey man, I can clean out my storage shed.

- [Chris] Every load tells the same story.

A life in transition, packed into a trailer and given one more chance.

- Definitely need to be good at Tetris.

- [Chris] Once it arrives, everything has a place.

The main floor, nearly 8,000 square feet, is where most of it lands.

Although a smaller premium section for finds is available.

- One of the things I got in a donation was a vintage 1972 Yamaha 100 Enduro motorcycle.

And at that point, we were still early on, and I was like, I just can't put this in the all you can carry for $20.

- [Chris] While some are too unique to blend into the pile, others are too necessary to sell.

- All food items, we're gonna give them away.

We're not charging people for food.

Medical equipment became the same thing.

Walkers, potty chairs, shower chairs.

We just had six of those hydraulic lifts to lift a patient off the bed.

I mean, they're $1,200 a piece.

We gave 'em all away.

We have ankle braces in there, blood pressure monitors.

I mean, we really just think that that's stuff that should be free.

- [Chris] On the main floor, the inventory changes by the hour.

A moving collection of everyday life.

- Dressers, china cabinets.

- This is an eight-cube storage space.

- [Chris] To the familiar.

- We get a lot of glass sets.

We get a lot of coffee cups, you know, stuff like that.

Vases.

- [Chris] To the completely unexpected.

- A camel saddle.

I don't know if you've ever seen a camel saddle.

They're very ornate, and they're not very big, I guess, because they have to fit between the camel humps.

- [Chris] Because here, the value isn't just in what you find, it's in the search itself.

- I do still make the miscellaneous tubs where you gotta get down on the floor and start digging through it 'cause a lot of my customers love that.

- If you can go thrifting for $20 versus spending $200, sold.

- This is a great place to come and find the treasures.

- [Chris] Around here, nobody's trying to stop you from making a profit.

In fact, they're rooting for it.

- You know, I have people come here all the time and, oh, I found this piece, man, it's worth $300.

I was like, good.

Go sell it.

- Got outta here for what?

- $20.

- And sold it for what?

- 200.

- We want people to come in and do that.

We actually have one of our regular ladies was able to quit her full-time job and stay home with her son because she decided to be a full-time reseller, and she discovered us.

- [Chris] But it's only a deal if you can carry it out.

And over time, shoppers have developed strategies like stacking.

Others improvise.

Curtain rods, tie-downs, pure determination.

- Looks like y'all got the money's worth than me.

- [Chris] But the real legends go it alone.

- Come, let's go!

- Go, baby!

- Dana walks out that door.

I mean, stuff on her neck, stuff on her shoulders.

She'll wear stuff on her head and is literally going maybe a mile an hour.

And her whole body is... - I guess, 'cause I was shuffling all the time with the loads.

- But she will get every time everything she has will make it out that door with her.

- Her name is Carrie.

And we always joke when we do the videos.

- Y'all know her name is Carrie for a reason now.

- Because she's doing the all you can carry.

- [Chris] Word is spreading.

The Mystery Box Warehouse is becoming a destination.

- We're from Augusta, Georgia.

- [Chris] Some travel hours.

- I drove an hour to her house to Orangeburg, so it would've been three hours for me, and then two hours to her house.

- [Chris] What started as a way to clear one family's home became something much bigger.

- This is about doing good for people, right?

Our main objectives in this order: Number one, keep good stuff out of the dump.

Number two, take good care of the people in the community.

Number three, get it outta this warehouse as fast as possible.

And number four is hopefully make some money.

- [Chris] At the Mystery Box Warehouse, nothing here is truly unwanted.

It's just waiting for someone willing to carry it home.

For "Carolina Impact", I'm Chris Clark.