The End of the Army-Surplus Store

[bobgee]

Found this interesting story on another website. Tells a lot about where we've been. Link belowBobgee

 

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/10/11/rise-fall-army-surplus-store/

 

[capa]

Interesting. They didn't discuss what one local Army Navy store owner describes as the monopoly of Government Liquidation, however.

[Teamski]

Good article, but the author missed another big change in surplus: demand. Today, most people don't want dented canteens. For depression era folks and their kids, pup tents and mess kits were things that could be used to go camping or any other outdoor activity. Army Navy stores were the go-to place for cheap equipment. Today, people want new stuff, and they will most likely go to Walmart to get cheap camping supplies and tents. One quote from an Army Navy store owner always sticks with me: Army Navy stores can no longer survive on selling dented canteens. It isn't about availability rather than demand. People don't do outdoor stuff anymore like they used to.

 

The key to survivability of a surplus store is diversity. The Army Navy store I deal with has state contracts to keep it afloat. They also sell Boy Scout supplies and do engraving.

 

-Ski

[ocsfollowme]

Not all army surplus stores are equal.

[automatic]

Thanks for sharing the article. I have seen references to Bannerman's on the forum but now I know the story. Sadly, these fake surplus stores are all I have ever known. I wish I could have experienced the good old days!

[Bluehawk]

We have an old one, still calling itself Army Surplus, in Culver City CA on Venice Blvd.

 

Been in there a few times.

 

About 80% of goods are military-related but not surplus (though they do have a good size rack of patched uniforms), a few odds and ends of militaria smalls worth checking, some halfway decent outdoor gear and wear, that sort of thing.

 

Best one I ever went into was the federal surplus in Frankfort KY

[Dirk]

Great article Bob! Glad I was around for the days when the stores were still filled with WW2 stuff and even some WW1 items

[R. Watkins]

Brings back a lot of memories. My kid brother and I grew up camping with surplus U.S. military field gear.

This was of course back in the days before it all became 'collectable'.

[Jennings Lane]

Last year, Louisville lost the last of its "old school" army surplus stores. Julian Goldberg operated G&K Shoe Company on West Main St for decades. The business was founded by his father in the 1930's. Julian died in July of 2015.

 

I always told beginning collectors to go see Julian's store, if you wanted to see what army surplus stores used to be. In later years, there was less to select from, but still worth the effort. Just to meet and talk with Julian, made the trip worthwhile. There wasn't much lighting, not to mention heat or air conditioning. There was as much merchandise on the floor as there was on the tables, but it was army surplus as it was in the old days.

 

Today, with surplus harder to get and the internet, I don't imagine we'll see any new army surplus stores. If we do, they won't be the old "stack it high and sell it cheap" variety. Collectors still enjoy digging through stacks of boxes, but the more mainstream customers want things neat and organized. They don't know what they're missing.

[Ronnie]

Wonder what happened to Julian's inventory. He had lots of stuff down stairs and up stairs.

Every year when we would go to the SOS we would visit with Julian. I got some good stuff out of there.

Ronnie

[BOLO]

I was watching the show GOMER PYLE USMC an episode titled "One of Our Shells is Missing"

 

and they go looking around at the local Army / Navy Surplus store trying to find the missing 81 mm mortar shell that Gomer lost

 

 

[BOLO]

Surplus store scene showing store front from Gomer Pyle season 3 episode 29 [4/67]

[sundance]

Boy, those were the good old days. I loved those places and there were several good ones in my western NY area. Sadly I can't even remember their names. Bought lots of stuff from them in the day. Went to college in Buffalo and went downtown with 2 roommates soon after getting there and we all bought Air Force snorkel parkas. They really tamed those Buffalo winters. I still have it hanging in the basement - just can't get into it. They were probably post WW2. I also remember buying a long Garand bayonet in the 60's for maybe $5. - and there was a whole bin of them. Would be great to go back in time.

[Nkomo]

As a kid, I grew up hitting the surplus stores all over Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and other places we would travel on vacation. Reading this article makes me very sad. So many good memories with my dad and us digging through piles of surplus.

[Bluehawk]

Another story... don't know if anyone here ever got a chance to visit this old place, on a road bend at a farm house outbuliding just about midway between Tipton Ford and Redings Mill in extreme SW Missouri, on NN highway.

 

It was a small place, everything in it was true old-style Army Navy, not a huge inventory of stuff, but some nice things. I got my first SSI there in about 1999 or so. It has since closed when the owner passed away, but I think his heirs still have the land and probably just shut the doors to the place when he was gone.

 

Wish I had known then just 10% of what I think I "know" today,,,

[airborne1968]

Great article! I remember the good old days of hitting the big surplus store on 4th St in downtown Mpls. I opened my surplus store over a year ago and it turns out I'm following one of the three noted methods to stay open...surplus and military collectibles. There is more to it than just that. However, I do have real Army surplus and no camochic clothing or commercial knock off "type" or "style" items. My place is small but its all about moving inventory through foot traffic and internet sales and I'm definitely focusing on demand vs piles of cheap surplus. I'd love to get my hands on an old Bannermans catalog.

[BOLO]

http://wwiijeepparts.com/WWIIArmySurplusStores.html

 

[Old Marine]

Ahh, the good old days of the War Surplus stores bursting at the seams with cheap GI stuff. Here are a few pages from an old Army Navy store catalog here in Philadelphia. These pages will be nostalgia for the older collectors and probably just annoy the younger collectors.

 

There is no date on the catalog but there is also no zip code on the address so it's pre 1963. I think this catalog dates from some time in the 50s.

 

I used one of those online inflation converters and the .39 cent musette bags would cost about $3.50 in today's money, that's still a pretty good price. Another thing to keep in mind about all this War Surplus that was so readily available back then is that most of this stuff was in mint, unissued condition not like the rusted, stained beat up stuff we are lucky to find today at the flea markets and yard sales.

 

Anyway, here are a few pages with some interesting items.

 

Dennis

 

The 98 cent Hunting knife looks like a Cattargarus 225Q knife. The 20 cent plastic protective covers are probably Gas Sheets.

 

More War Surplus. That's a nice Linesman kit.

 

I like the selection of colors for the "house paint". Those colors sure look like aircraft Camouflage colors.

[100thOVI]

Thought I might add another catalog of surplus from Sioux Falls in 1949. Enjoy the bargains.

 

additional bargains

 

 

[P-40Warhawk]

That last one is neat, the 59 cent "NAVY CAPS" are the short-lived slate gray ones.

[BROBS]

89c wrist compass!!!

 

 

Man I gotta quit looking at those.

[doyler]

You guys sure know how to boost my blood pressure posting the old adds..

 

Mussette bags 3 for a buck.....the horror!! SAVE THEM ALL!

 

Im going to be dreaming khaki all night.

 

 

 

 

Dennis,

 

Wonder if the Tally-HO after shave was surplus bug juice just re-bottled?

[Old Marine]

It might have been.........lol. How about the USMC machete for a buck? The memories............those places were great. Most of those places had laundry tubs or barrels full of patches, chevrons, navy rates and insignia, usually at a nickel apiece. That stuff was too small to bother putting in the mail order catalogs. That's how I started my patch collection.

[sundance]

I still have a couple of shells in my desk drawer at work that I probably bought 45 years age at an Army surplus store (and I still play with them like I did then).

[Patch Adams]

Even in the past few years I've seen changes in surplus stores. I used to frequent them when I was just getting into collecting. I used to be able to find some decent WWII-Vietnam era field gear at my local store mixed in with ALICE and newer gear. Now, even only 7-8 years later you're lucky to find anything that isn't newly made by Rothco or other milspec retailers.

 

I recently tried to sell off a large lot of field gear and BDU's to a DC area store. I was met with what was to me a shockingly low offer, and declined. That excursion helped me better see the reality of the shape of this once massive industry.

 

-Patch Adams