Lewis Mitchell won a trolley full of groceries in a competition he entered at Tauranga City Library, but when he went to claim his prize nobody showed up.

Why? Because he was waiting at the library in Levin.

The Levin resident won $199 worth of groceries after making the closest guess of items in the trolley and its value, as part of Literacy Bay of Plenty's competition during Money Week and Adult Learners' Week from August 31-September 6.

As part of the competition, people were invited to guess the number of items in the trolley displayed in Tauranga City Library's window and its value to win the groceries, which were donated by Countdown Bureta.

Lewis guessed 72 items and a value of $210. The correct answer is 72 items worth $199.

He made his guess while passing through Tauranga last week. So when Literacy BOP manager Annamaria Grafas called Lewis to claim his prize, he was waiting in a different town.

'He said: ‘I'm wandering around the library and was wondering where you were',” laughs Annamaria. 'He didn't think he was going to win.”

But he did. So what happens now? 'He's asked the woman he was staying with here to come and claim his prize,” says Annamaria.

Tauranga City Library's marketing and events co-ordinator Daniel Petersen says there were more than 100 guesses entered in the competition.

'It was fun to see what people came up with. Sometimes their number of items guessed would be pretty close, but their value was way off.

'Two people guessed the correct number of items, and the tie-breaker was the value and Lewis had the closest guess of $210.”