Even as preservationists gear up for a Dec. 3 court date on the fate of the Marlboro Inn, furniture, fixtures and bedding are being removed from the structure piece by piece by piece.

Today’s Star-Ledger reports that owner Steven Plofker, who wants to tear down the inn and build 10 houses, has been opening the property for a kind of private estate sale for select shoppers — who must pay for the booty by writing checks to charity.

Without electricity or heat, the Marlboro Inn Bazaar is not exactly a shopper’s paradise. "It was," said one shopper quoted in the article, "a little like being in a Stephen King novel."