Abstract: There are used article display shelves each comprising a plurality of article storing compartments arranged vertically and laterally, the article storing compartments each holding a plurality of articles in a front-declined state, and the articles in each article storing compartment are held by means of a stopper, the stopper being capable of moving between an article holding position for inhibiting free fall of article and an article release position for permitting free fall of article. On the premise that money is paid, a bucket is conveyed to a position where a desired article is to be dropped from the article storing compartment which holds the article, and the position of the stopper is shifted to the article release position by an operation performed on the bucket side. As a result, the desired article is put into the bucket, which bucket is then conveyed up to an article take-out port. In this way the sale of article is effected.