Sure do miss them . Kept a lot of useful containers and clothes. But I do remember toward the end they seemed to carry a lot of overpriced clothes that to me just didn't fit into the surplus stores I grew up with. The local one had a fellow that was a he'll of a good guy , but his temper got him in a lot shiet .dam shame , as he soon found out if didn't matter to the courts who the POS was he shot, DA was determined to make an example of him . And the bitch succeeded , ruined a good man . Back to the surplus stores , they were the shiet at one time . Growing up pour , it always puzzled me why people opted for the sporting rifles over the surplus rifles and the ljjes that were told about all of them being junk and shot out . You could buy several surplus rifles for the cost of a Remington or Winchester . Christ ! I'm a grouchy MF`er , LOL Kenneth
A lot of the 'surplus' is cheap imported crap made to look like military stuff. The authentic WWII stuff is long gone. You can sometimes find foreign made wool clothes that are real Romanian military but finding something that will fit can be difficult.
There's large one in Idaho Falls that has a lot of the cheap stuff but also has a lot of real surplus. Last time I found a couple of surplus air filters (new) for my motor home (8.9L Cummins ) for 25 bucks each best price I have found even online is $135.00 Was well worth a stop.
The last real surplus store here was Kopples. They had several stores across so. Idaho. Over time, you saw less and less real surplus until it became the Harbor Freight of outdoor stuff. They went under years ago.
back in the day, and by that I mean back in the fifties and sixties, military surplus stores were THE place to buy your gear. As the surplus material aged, and the supplies dried up, they morphed into junk stores. In locations such as Columbus GA, where there is a large military base, the stores are still great to visit.
A lot of the 'surplus' is cheap imported crap made to look like military stuff. The authentic WWII stuff is long gone. You can sometimes find foreign made wool clothes that are real Romanian military but finding something that will fit can be difficult.
+10 on that. You have to look very carefully to find actual US military surplus. Local surplus store is simply immense, you had best figure on spending hours in the place. That said, every so often an actual nugget appears mixed in with all the crap. I did find a Swedish pick axe that must have been WWI vintage.
The Idaho Falls surplus store is the one I was talking about - every so often they have good stuff mixed in with the China junk...
I miss them! Used to be a two-story surplus store in Philly, I. Goldberg. It was a young kid's wonderland. This was in the late 1960's/early 70's. Place was packed with WW II surplus and even had WW I stuff. I always came home with some cool finds, but what I really wanted was a WW I doughboy helmet. They had stacks of them for $5 apiece. But Dad wouldn't buy me one. Said " I wore one when I was in the Army and still have the bald spot it wore into the top of my head." If Dad could see what they're going for on eBay now. Ahh, the memories!
When I was a kid, there was one walking distance away, and an easy bike ride, right next to the deli (where we'd usually pick up a bottle or can of soda once we made it all the way there) and what we kids called the candy store, which was actually a stationary store that had a large candy section, along with comic books and some toys (we'd resupply ourselves with caps for our cap guns there, and they had those burning snake things and such). The surplus store was called Marine Surplus, and it was its own building, separate from the strip mall it was right next to, and likely predated.
We kids loved going in there and looking around. Me and my cousin bought a couple of knives in there once. I think I bought a Swiss Army knife and he bought a Case Bowie knife that was missing a sheath, so he got a good deal on it. He made a sheath for it later, but my mom confiscated the knife from him when she discovered he bought it. I assume he eventually got it back, somehow. Maybe my aunt and uncle took possession of it.
About those authentic military surplus clothes that never fit. They're surplus because the militaries never had any troops in those micro sizes. They had real people who wore real sizes. The mini stuff that never got worn is what's left to be surplus.
My best friend and I when we were kids pooled our money and bought a parachute from the surplus store. We had many a wild drag across fallow fields during windstorms with that thing.
Our local one is Smith & Edwards (Motto: We have everything you want - if we can find it.) Used to have acres of belly tanks, odd tank parts, strange containers and such. Now, the surplus section inside the store has shrunken down to a few aisles, but there are still good finds in wool clothes, ammo cans, and insignia. Some mess kits, canteens, and fuel stoves with the occasional find. But really only a shadow of its former self.
Keep in mind that there have actually been wars since WW-II. All of them have generated surplus gear but rules of the goobermint have drastically limited what can be sold off to the public. Much of the "good stuff" has to be destroyed instead. Pity.
The last real surplus store here was Kopples. They had several stores across so. Idaho. Over time, you saw less and less real surplus until it became the Harbor Freight of outdoor stuff. They went under years ago.
My best friend and I when we were kids pooled our money and bought a parachute from the surplus store. We had many a wild drag across fallow fields during windstorms with that thing.
Oh, yes. Back to McManus and his story about the blizzard. He and Retch bought a surplus parachute. Rancid Crabtree had an old car hood to use for a sled. Rancid tied the chute around his waist and the boys tossed the chute up in the air in a 50 mph wind. It was a long time before they saw Crabtree again but they found some barb wire fences torn down.
Never had any money , but the old fellow got a kick out of my intense searching through stuff and questions . Since then have owned several different surplus guns and bubba guns . Most were and are good shooters. All have taken a flying leap in value . Seemed most responded well to corlokt ammo . Kenneth
Loved the surplus store when we were kids. Bought mostly paracord, camping stuff, shovels (still have a couple), stuff like that. Damned shame that it was torn down and a Starbuck's put in it's place. Sign of society I suppose.
Ah yes, the Surplus Store way out on east Central (Route 66 to the tourists passing through ABQ). I seems the sign had one of the old drop tanks or maybe it was a bombshell. It was FULL of war surplus items. Friedman's in BNA had some real military surplus back when but was past that (except for some junk and loo-a-like) the last time I visited.
Sportsman Guide had some German surplus wool pants that were the bomb fo hunting.
Oh well all just cheap chinese knock off junk now every place I look. Oh as mentioned there is some surplus pants and jackets, size EXTRA SMALL.
I miss them! Used to be a two-story surplus store in Philly, I. Goldberg. It was a young kid's wonderland. This was in the late 1960's/early 70's. Place was packed with WW II surplus and even had WW I stuff. I always came home with some cool finds, but what I really wanted was a WW I doughboy helmet. They had stacks of them for $5 apiece. But Dad wouldn't buy me one. Said " I wore one when I was in the Army and still have the bald spot it wore into the top of my head." If Dad could see what they're going for on eBay now. Ahh, the memories!
i bought a lot of stuff at I Jewberg as we called it. now that was a store.
the hay day of surplus and army/navy was post ww2 and vietnam. all the ones i know of around here now sell cheap schit chinese knockoff junk. and if they have a "gun" selection it's fuggen laughable. i have better guns in the corner of my garage most times.
It’s probably been mentioned by others , times have certainly changed, but the one when I was a kid was an Army&Navy store believe it or not . Kenneth
I'm too young to have shopped them. At least in this area, by the 80's there weren't any worth a crap.
We did have Surplus City. They had some outdoor gear, but mostly hardware. All military nuts, bolts...tools. cases and cases of the little containers of gun grease. Best deal on good drill bits going. Periscopes for tanks, all kind of pieces parts.
And magazines everywhere. Not sure if they were M14 or 16. Thinking back, probably M14. Boxes of them. Singles floating around, mixed into everything.
I often thought of them during the Ban period. There must have been a couple thousand of them in there. Worthless at that time.
Time was shopping at the Army Navy store was the thing to do.. Govt started giving all our "surplus" to third world Armies that were all about obsolete junk and killed all our surplus sales.