Vending machine at Boca's Town Center dispenses gold bars
If you're looking for last-minute holiday gifts and have a couple hundred - or thousand - dollars to burn, the Town Center at Boca Raton has the stocking stuffer for you.
On Friday, the mall displayed its newest tenant: a vending machine that dispenses gold.
Shoppers can stop by the vending machine on their way to the food court and purchase gold bars and coins.
Prices fluctuate based on changing gold prices, but the 2-gram chunks go for around $120, while 1-ounce pieces cost about $1,450.
"I see it as an unusual gift item," said Joe Cilia, general manager for the mall, noting that this machine is the company's first in the United States. "We have a very upscale clientele."
The Gold to Go vending machine, covered in layers of 24-karat gold, is a product of TG-Gold-Super-Markt, a brand of German company Ex Oriente Lux AG. The company is cashing in on the record high price of gold and its reputation as a safe harbor in uncertain times.
Dave Jones, a consultant who helped bring the machine to Boca Raton, said prices are updated every 10 minutes. Jones said markups on the market price of the gold pieces vary by the size of the piece, and the highest markup is about 15 percent. He said the markup for a 1-ounce bar is about 5 percent.
On Friday morning, Jones demonstrated the machine. He bought a 5-gram Credit Suisse bar - the size of a computer chip - for $252 in cash. The machine won't accept credit or debit cards for another few weeks. Within seconds, a small black box holding Jones' gold dropped down, much like a bag of Doritos.
The gold vending machine debuted in 2009 and has locations in Abu Dhabi, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Thomas Geissler, head of TG-Gold, said that more machines will soon appear in the U.S., including one in Las Vegas before the new year. Partners are negotiating with Simon Property Group to bring the machines to 40 other high-end malls.
Steve Pomeranz, a certified financial planner in Boca Raton, said the vending machine is an indicator that the gold market has reached its peak.
"By the time the public gets into the gold market, that means it's at its end," Pomeranz said Friday. "Once your bartender tells you what real estate you ought to buy or your taxi driver tells you what stocks to buy, you know the market is at its peak. The same is true here."
Sean Brodrick of Jupiter-based Weiss Research says there is room for the gold market to grow. But he expressed skepticism that the Boca Raton gold vending machine would do brisk business.
"These machines are one more way for fools and their money to be parted," Brodrick said. "Places where those machines work are places like Las Vegas, where people are in the mood to throw money around."
Michael Hiler is the chief executive of Boca Raton-based PMX Communities Inc., a new company that has a partnership with the German company to bring the gold vending machines to the United States.
"The machines in Europe have been doing quite well," Hiler said. "They're bringing in 300,000 euros a month. I'm hoping to do a couple hundred thousand dollars a month here."
The machines can hold 320 gold pieces and are bolted to the floor. Geissler said he's not concerned about security.
"We even did explosives tests in Germany," he said.
The Town Center's Cilia compared the value of the gold to other merchandise at the mall.
"The most expensive thing in the machine right now is about $1,400," he said. "That's the same price as some Louis Vuitton bags. Our mall has Tiffany, Cartier, Ulysse Nardin watches."
The new vending machine certainly got its share of attention on Friday, as TV crews and reporters flocked around for its unveiling.
Boca Raton resident Maurice Finkel, 78, paused to check out the machine.
"I think that's a pretty good idea right there," he said, nodding at the contraption. "But right now, gold is so high, who would buy it? It'd be better if there were a way you could sell your gold to (the machine)."
