When entire box of signed Taylor Swift 'Folklore' CDs ended up in her hands outside Exclusive Co., fan does the right thing

GREEN BAY - When Taylor Swift sent off surprise shipments of signed copies of her "Folklore" CD to select independent record stores across the country this week, Swifties were eager to get their hands on one.

One of those fans ended up getting her hands on an entire box of them outside The Exclusive Co. — by accident — and then did something store manager Tom Smith said “makes you have faith in human beings again.”

He learned on Friday the store in downtown Green Bay would be getting 30 of the coveted CDs on Saturday morning. What Smith didn’t know was that UPS Inc. would deliver them at 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes before the store was open and an employee was available to sign for the package.

When he arrived at 9:59 a.m. to open the doors and turn on the lights, there were two Swift fans sitting on the ground out front of the shop at 423 Dousman St. The delivery driver had asked one of them to sign for the unmarked box and drove off.

She handed the box to Smith when he showed up. “Out of curiosity, do you know what’s in the box?” she asked. When he told her it was the autographed “Folklore” CDs, she said, “I thought it was!”

Smith was impressed the fans waited with the box until he arrived, especially since they had a pretty good idea of what was inside. Not everyone might have done the same.

“They could have sold those on eBay. Someone told me what they were going for. They might have gotten $9,000 for that box,” Smith said. “It totally shows the character of Taylor Swift fans. Taylor Swift, I think, does such cool things, and I think they’re taking their cue from her.”

Swift, who released “Folklore,” her eighth studio album, on July 24 without any advance promotion, sent signed copies out to indie record shops on Thursday as a show of support for small business. Smith said he was originally told only The Exclusive Co. locations in Greenfield and Milwaukee would be getting shipments.

UPDATE: Meet Brandy Baenen, the Swiftie handed the box of signed Taylor Swift CDs 

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All 30 copies in Green Bay were snatched up in less than five hours for $11.99 each, Smith said. 

“I told one person, ‘You have this nice Taylor Swift fan to thank for this. The fact that she even said, ‘Taylor Swift would not want me to walk away with this,' that was the part that really got me,” Smith said.

It was a feel-good moment during times when they can sometimes feel in short supply.

“It’s encouraging," Smith said. "People, just keep doing the right thing. You’ll change the world eventually. Just keep at it.” 

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.