Surplus store has surplus customers

Karen S. Kim

BURBANK -- The Supply Sergeant has stood on Victory Boulevard in

Burbank for about 50 years, but it has never been bombarded with business

like it has in the last seven days.

“During the Gulf War, we had people buying a lot of American flag

stuff,” store manager Paul Paik said. “But they weren’t buying gas masks,

like now.”

Customers, afraid and worried about the possibility that Americans

might once again see terrorist threats in their skies, have been flocking

to the Supply Sergeant in droves to purchase gas masks and survival gear.

In the past week, the Army and Navy surplus store has sold at least

500 gas masks, Paik said.

In addition to masks, the large store is packed with clothing, duffel

bags, camping gear, historic replicas of military hats, embroidered

military badges, vintage uniforms, knives and boots.

The Supply Sergeant, 503 N. Victory Blvd., has already sold out of

American flag paraphernalia and several types of gas masks and is waiting

for more shipments of merchandise.

“People want gas masks just to be safe in any type of chemical or

biological attack,” salesman Robert Galarza said.

Galarza added that the store has received at least 100 calls each day

from customers inquiring about gas masks. One pregnant woman was in tears

as she bought a gas mask for herself and her unborn baby, Galarza said.

Before last week’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast, gas masks were

sold mainly to the wardrobe departments of local movie and television

studios, Paik said.

Now, Israeli, Chinese, German, Swedish and Russian gas masks for

adults and children are being bought by families.

Paik, who manages four other Supply Sergeant stores in California,

said he doesn’t necessarily appreciate all the extra business he’s

received in the last week.

“I’m not happy with this kind of situation,” he said, adding that

recent customers have been unusually impatient. “I’d rather it be a

normal and calm kind of business.”