Seattle Military Surplus - Rory Sweets Burks employee hangs a Gadsden flag at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown area. The store has been in business since 1955, offering a variety of equipment and supplies for people living in the region and abroad. (All photos by Matt M. McKnight/)
Patagonia is a well-known, well-known supplier of accessories and has a passionate customer base around the world. But in Seattle, it's probably not the best store there on its own block, 1st Street and Lenora Avenue. That distinction belongs to the neighboring country, Federal Army & Navy Surplus, which is in Belltown since no one wants to be caught dead in Belltown, which is sometimes the case.
Seattle Military Surplus
As one might assume from the military mannequins in the front window of Federal Army & Navy Surplus, it's a great place to shop if you're looking for a military Halloween costume. But it's mostly a place for basic clothes and accessories that are tough and meant to withstand the harsh elements. If you've been advised that a major disaster could happen tomorrow, that's where you want to buy
How An Army Outpost Became Discovery Park
Employee Marshall Hendricks (left) discusses purchase orders with Jack Schaloum, co-owner at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown area.
Don't expect to find guns, ammunition and fishing gear here, however; This is not Warshal's, the late, great downtown sporting goods store that reminds Seattleites of their dense roots. (Hotel 1000 - not strong - rises at 1st and Madison.) Federal Army & Navy Surplus is, paradoxically, a very peaceful place. Back when the Vietnam War was a growing concern, the store's biggest customers were protesters, not soldiers.
"In the '70s, at the height of America's discontent with the military, placing the military (among protesters) was in style," said Steve Hall, a member of the Friends of Historic Belltown. "It's an ironic way to put the military and not the military."
Hall has been a customer of Federal Army & Navy Surplus since he worked for the US Forest Service in the '80s. He would go there every May to buy gardening equipment or a new pair of woolen pants left over from the Korean War, and he would often come in to see what surprises co-owners Jack and Henry Schaloum would have in stock.
Major Mike's Military Surplus
"Recently, they had all these rackets," Hall recalled. "They had vendors selling samples, and they would sell them. It's quite the opposite of Patagonia."
In the Surplus Store, you can buy refills that look like missiles, various flavors of Ministry of Defense M.R.Es (meals, ready to eat), camouflage "Ghillie Suit" that looks like Chewbacca after a night out. Lying on wood and leaves, and the book of Rite in the rain filled with water paper.
The son of Jack Schaloum, a college golfer, finds the last of these items — made in Tacoma and "defying Mother Nature since 1916" — to be a particularly useful tool during drizzly practice sessions.
Jack and Henry's parents were Holocaust survivors who came to Seattle in 1951. Izak Schaloum ran a dry cleaning business near where Warshal used to live, eventually buying a military surplus sporting goods store across the street. It was here that Jack said that Isaac "saw a niche" and focused on surplus, building an enterprise that expanded to the point where it was outgrowing its original 1955.
Surplus Military Bolt Rifles Hunt Again In Scout Format
A Ghillie suit, reminiscent of Chewbacca, can be seen at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown area.
Sylvia Etter (center) and Ryan Denson (right) view clothing items inside the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown area. "It was my first time visiting," Etter said. "They have a good mix of equipment and other random stuff."
US Army and US Navy pins behind the counter at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
Tourists walk the streets under dozens of flight suits hanging from the rafters at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
Doug Clark: Best Buy Surplus Is A Hidden Gem Frozen In Time
An old Serbian firefighter's helmet, believed to be from the 1950s, at the Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
The Schaloums bought the old brick building they now own - a meatpacking plant and shoe factory in its previous incarnation - and moved in at the end of 1979. Back then, Jack loved the woebegone Belltown watering hole. Like Frontier. Hall, where the Captain and Cokes will be missing from the milk ingredients.
"It looks like, especially in Belltown, people have an exit strategy, and that includes selling it to a developer for $11.3 million," Hall said, describing the scenario that applies to Two Bells Tavern on Fourth Avenue, which will be replaced. . Not a residential tower. “Belltown has an understated look to it, so you can't expect these iconic businesses to last forever. But what you want is for new people to replace the old ones if the old ones go for whatever reason.”
For now, the Schaloum tribe and their exciting store — the last of its kind in Seattle's city limits — aren't going anywhere. Jack says he and his brother have no plans to retire anytime soon, explaining, "Retail keeps us sharp both physically and mentally."
The Fate Of World War Ii Surplus Aircraft — General Aviation News
But the business model has become more difficult with the advent of the Internet. Where they once scored big at auctions on local military bases, they now compete with bidders from around the world and transactions are increasingly moving online. Even Amazon still has a foothold in the surplus sector today, Jack said. And when Amazon takes a dive, it's usually not long before the dive turns into a dive.
"There's an old Yiddish saying: 'Man plans and God laughs,'" said Schaloum, who just returned from a week's hiking in Utah. "So we'll see what the future brings."
We rely on donations from readers like you to maintain in-depth reporting on issues related to the PNW.
On the rainy banks of the Pilchuck River in Snohomish, St. Thomas Orthodox who grew up celebrated the Holy Trinity and the baptism of Jesus.
Washington Police Departments Likely To Keep Military Vehicles
What reporter Margo Vansynghel learned from talking to mayors, artists and those who covered the spray several times.
One of the largest and most expensive projects in the city's history brought indigenous jobs to the Northwest.
Mike Seely is the former editor-in-chief of Seattle Weekly and the author of Seattle's Best Dive Bars: Drinking & Diving in the Emerald City. Follow her on Twitter @mdseely.
The founders of Portland's Deadstock Run Club are creating a space for people of color to connect and move.
Post A Comment:
0 comments so far,add yours