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From Obscure To Sold Out: The Story Of Four Seasons Total Landscaping In Just 4 Days
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The Philadelphia business was the location of a bizarre press conference by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani last weekend. The business is cashing in on its newfound fame and has even run out of merch.
Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The great city of Philadelphia has a new landmark, Four Seasons Total Landscaping. The business was the location of a bizarre press conference last weekend where President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, denounced Joe Biden's victory in Pennsylvania. As WHYY's Miles Bryan reports, the landscaper is now cashing in on its newfound fame.
MILES BRYAN, BYLINE: Before the Trump campaign chose Four Seasons Total Landscaping to stage its defiant press conference, it was just another business in this industrial part of Philadelphia. Now it's a tourist attraction.
ZOE GROBMAN: We had a few free hours and were like, OK, we've got to fit this into our week.
BRYAN: Zoe Grobman made the trek from across town with a buddy. She says the fact that the press conference ended up here - near a crematorium, a sex shop and a jail - speaks to what she loves about Philly. She's already ordered a Four Seasons T-shirt.
GROBMAN: The closest that they could get into the city without being completely ran out is a landscaping shop right next to the prison. The moral of the story is, like, don't mess with Philly.
BRYAN: It's still not entirely clear how the Trump campaign ended up here. The owner has reportedly supported Trump in some personal social media posts but hasn't returned our request for comment.
Since the weekend, though, the company has been prioritizing sales over politics. It's rolled out a line of T-shirts, stickers and even face masks online. Their merchandise features slogans like Make America Rake Again and Lawn and Order. Wendy Gordon, a Philly expat living in D.C., ordered a T-shirt as soon as possible.
WENDY GORDON: I went for the classic with the company logo on it.
BRYAN: Gordon is a Biden supporter. She says she doesn't ever want to forget that strange half-hour on Saturday when a week's worth of election anxiety finally broke open.
GORDON: It's so funny and so just completely innocuous and random and, like, silly that it was kind of like a collective exhale.
BRYAN: Four Seasons said in a Facebook post Tuesday it had already sold out of most of its merchandise and was pausing sales on most items until it can get them back in stock.
The curiosity has even extended to Fantasy Island, the sex shop next door. The clerk working the shop on Tuesday, who gave his name as Z.S. Jacob (ph), said he's getting a lot more interest than sales.
Z S JACOB: You wouldn't believe - I get at least 10, 15 phone calls a day. Is Rudy here?
BRYAN: In a few weeks, Four Seasons aficionados will have another reason to visit the business. Some Philly runners are organizing a charity run from Four Seasons Total Landscaping to - you guessed it - the Four Seasons Hotel.
For NPR News, I'm Miles Bryan in Philadelphia.
(SOUNDBITE OF EL TEN ELEVEN'S "POINT BREEZE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.