Fear keeps surplus store busy

Karen S. Kim

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Laurene and Robert Miller were just preparing

for the annual Halloween rush at their Armies of the World store on

Colorado Street when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 forced them to refocus their energies.

Over the last week and a half, the Army and Navy surplus store has

been packed with customers vying for American flags, gas masks and

protective suits. Some residents say they’re concerned about the threat

of chemical warfare in the United States.

Miller has sold almost 100 gas masks, costing between about $20 and

$149, since Sept. 11, he said. They sold out of certain styles and are

trying to order more masks to meet consumer demand.

“Some customers are panicked and some just want to be prepared,” said

Miller, who runs the store with his wife. “This is something we’ve been

providing for 25 years, but people are perceiving a bigger need for it

now. It’s hard to tell what the real need is.”

Army Cpl. Julian Navarro III, 24, of Eagle Rock, was trying on

different masks at Miller’s store Thursday, hoping to choose one for his

mother. All of his local relatives have already purchased their masks, he

said.

“It’s a very good idea to buy them because it’s always better safe

than sorry,” Navarro said. “My section chief in the Army told me that an

unprepared soldier is as good as a dead soldier.”

Navarro, who returned home less than two years ago from serving four

years of active duty in Georgia, was telling customers that full

protection from gas or liquid chemical warfare required a not only a gas

mask, but also a jacket, pants, boots and gloves.

And customers have been purchasing the whole deal. Gas masks, extra

filters costing about $10 to $20, camouflage chemical protection suits

for about $30, gloves costing about $2 to $4, boots costing about $4 to

$17 and $1 survival manuals printed by the federal government in the

1970s are among the popular products selling quickly at Armies of the

World.

But Miller said that the increase in sales of protective equipment has

made him take on a somewhat strange business philosophy.

“Every person who walks out of here with a gas mask, we’re hoping they

never have a need to use it,” he said.