Twenty-one million flowers and plants are auctioned daily at Aalsmeer in the Netherlands. The climate-controlled auction building, nearly 250 acres, is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's largest commercial edifice, the equivalent of 165 soccer fields. It houses auction rooms, a dispatch and loading center, forwarders, customs and plant protection services, banks and restaurants. About 10,000 people work there.
NY Times