Wakefield Wines owner Mohammad Azir Nazir made headlines earlier this year when he charged a whopping £1,000 for a bottle of the highly sought-after energy drink Prime Hydration. Many fans of the creators, KSI and Logan Paul, rushed to the off-licence in West Yorkshire to get their hands on the stuff, with some keen buyers forking out a grand for the beverage.
Mohammed, 41, went on to gain more than 800,000 followers on TikTok after going viral for selling Prime at such extortionate prices. Recalling the moment he got the incredibly generous payment from a customer in a recent interview on the Gasworks podcast, he explained the reasoning behind the high price.
"Guess what, I've got £1,000 a bottle now. But listen, there's a reason behind that," he said. Instead of selling bottles for £1,000 he intends to hold a raffle for charity.
He added: "There's only 10,000 bottles in the world and I've got three. I'm auctioning them, you can come to my shop and buy a raffle ticket for a fiver and all the money from those bottles are going to the food bank what I'm opening back home."
Mohammad bought his shop just four days before the first Coronavirus lockdown, following his release from prison, where he spent four years for dealing class-A drugs. Successfully turning his life around, the businessman is now famous across social media and customers flock from as far away as Canada and South Africa to go to 'Wakey Wines'.
How Wakey Wines discovered Prime
The shop owner also opened up on how he got his hands on his first crate of Prime and how much it cost him. Describing the moment he first heard about Prime, he said: "My son said to me, 'I want Prime' I said 'what the hell is Prime. He said 'you can only get it in ASDA'.
"So me and him went and queued up in ASDA at six O'clock in the morning... and by the time we got to the shelves they were all gone...the kids were all crying. So I said to my son 'I promise I will get you it' and he went 'Dad you can't get it from nowhere'.
"I said 'I promise you I'll get it' so I made a few phone calls and they said 'yeah but It's gonna cost you a lot of money'. "So I said 'no problem' so I got it for my kids and my son loved me."
The shop owner bought so many bottles of Prime, he decided to sell them. Asked how much he paid for the bottles, he said: "Thousands at the time...About £3,500."
Since then, both Wakey Wines and Prime has been immensely popular. The Wakefield shop owner now charges far more than just £50, with two recent customers splashed out £12,000 on 12 bottles of a rare Prime energy drink.
What is Prime Hydration?
Prime is a drink by YouTube influencers KSI and Logan Paul, who came together to create what they claim is "a hydration beverage… to rival some of the biggest companies on earth; Pepsi, Coke, Powerade, Gatorade."
Prime Hydration comes in seven main different flavours - Meta Moon, Ice Pop, Orange, Blue Raspberry, Tropical Punch, Lemon Lime and Grape. Each serving is between 20 to 25 calories and claims to be comprised of 10 per cent coconut water, with added electrolytes, BCAAs (Branched-chain amino acid), B vitamins and antioxidants, but is caffeine free.
Each 500ml bottle typically retails at £2, but that hasn't stopped prices soaring from non-official stockists. KSI has been a vocal opponent of Prime re-sellers, saying: "I think it is ridiculous that people are re-selling Prime at such high prices.
"It should not be worth £100 for a can of Prime or £10, £15, £20 for a bottle, it is absolutely ridiculous."
