Aloha Surplus

[novamind]

I bought some 8mm mauser ammo there in about 1999, it would not function in my gun, but all other ammo would. i returned it and the owner was terrible....He would only give me back fifty cents on the dollar for the returned ammo that I had just bought there!! I never went back and I just now got my other fifty cents on the dollar back!

 

[Smiddy]

I like them for some hard to find items, but they are high on some common items. Plus most of the guys who work there are cool and helpful, so I give them a 4 out of 5.

I bought some ODgreen 5 gallon steel gas cans for a decent price with very minor rust that ground off easy. No one seems to make steel cans anymore.

I bought my Jeep shovel, an old rusty wood handled European trench shovel, for $3. I ground off the rust and gave it a flat black rustoleum job and its like new.

My wife for my Birthday bought me a sword length officers bayonet with brass handle, RARE. (made by Germany for the Argentine army's Mosin-Nagant, I believe purchased second hand from Germany that were captured from the Russians, but thats a guess.) I love it. Total surprise. She's a great girl!

Doubt ill ever be going back to aloha surplus. The owner is an a-hat. The only reason that place has become a decent because of the younger people that have great customer service and IMHO will go far in life. The old man however is an unhappy peestain. I remember the days when he was the only guy running the store most days. You felt uncomfortable and unwanted as soon as you walked in. The place was somber feeling and empty of customers most days.

 

[Smiddy]

Also I hate my android for posting and I keep getting interrupted so my post might break up.

 

[Smiddy]

Ill try again. Basically after one of the young guys spent 25 minutes helping me find some rain gear for my wife, the strip on my debit card was too worn out to swipe. I told the guy he might have to run it as credit manually and the old man said "no because people make fake cards" which was the most insulting thing I've ever heard from a vendor because "people" wasn't standing there with 26 bucks worth of moldy rain gear. I was. A guy who had taken time out of his day to give them a good report in the past. A guy that was in there 30 days prior to buy my son a compass for his birthday and bought I don't know how many items since I was 15 years old.

 

[Smiddy]

Apparently the old man doesn't care as much about his customer as he does about being a paranoid a-hat. I wonder how many of these "fake cards" have came through aloha surplus. I bet the tweekers are lining up with their "fake credit cards" to buy musty, dusty, old rain gear. He lacks basic common sense. I told him I had a passport I.d. and he didn't care. I could have put one item back and pulled out the $20 bill in my pocket to get the two things I wanted most but at that point I was done. Ive used that card manually as credit dozens of times while waiting for the new one to come in the mail and not had a single person other than this old bag care one bit.

Its not like I expect this old guy to remember me out of all the other people that come in there, but Id expect some sort of common sense and courtesy. The old guy was unapologetic about the whole thing. He was just matter of fact, and then went on about his day. He could have cared less that I had spent all that time finding what I needed.

Small business success is based on repeat business. He lost a long term customer over some moldy rain gear he probable paid 5 dollars for. Not only that, but he lost a customer that was previously willing to go out of his way to say good things about Aloha Surplus on the internet as in my previous posts. My wife had even made a shadow box for that bayonet and hung it on the wall for me. Now I feel like tossing it out the window, but for my wife's feelings, I wont.

I'm sure they will get along just fine without me, but the only reason is due to the great people he has working for him. People that actually take time to remember you; and would never have accused a person of being a thief just because the strip on his card was worn out.

 

[Ikaikakuikahi]

I agree, this place is way overpriced. Some Molle holsters I found here were 50 to 60 bucks. Airsoft outlet NW had then for 20. Same brand and everything

 

[dustoffmedic]

Worked at that place back in 1997 and hated it ..Owner is a a hat and hard to get a pay check out of.. I do also say a lot of odd balls come in . Found a guy sleeping up stairs in the place one day ... odd .. nice yellow paint job he has done

 

[trekkerpaul]

trekkerpaul posted a new review on the item Aloha Surplus

 

[CamoDeafie]

Decided to come all the way up to that store today because its a good day for me; and i wanted to check them out after not being there for a long time.. well. Fb page says theyre open, google says they may be open, so I get there.. lo and behold.. closed. No notice on the door about being closed on Labor Day, no FB post saying that, their business hours says M-F 12pm-6pm... I guess they don't want my business.

 

[Helocat]

Decided to come all the way up to that store today because its a good day for me; and i wanted to check them out after not being there for a long time.. well. Fb page says theyre open, google says they may be open, so I get there.. lo and behold.. closed. No notice on the door about being closed on Labor Day, no FB post saying that, their business hours says M-F 12pm-6pm... I guess they don't want my business.

That's unfortunate sorry to hear that. The sad thing is if the owner takes the 3 min to register the business with Google, they email you before any major holidays to confirm if your open or not. Its a simple email link of yes or no. Click no and your hours are automatically updated just for that holiday to say in this case "Closed for Labor Day" . The effort is minimal.

The old school Army Surplus stores before are just no longer.

When I used to live in Aloha I went in there a few times. Bought a Boonie hat I think. Driven by several times in the recent past but never had a need to stop.
As a small business owner myself, it's usually the rent that takes them out. Retail leases just go up and up, hard to sell enough moldy rain gear to make rent and enough to live on. The guys still open like this one probably bought their building yrs ago. The day they close up shop and talk with a leasing broker, they will fall over when they find out how much they could have been leasing the place for, like 3x what they actually made working 50hrs a week running the business. The SBA (Small Business Administration) says that a vast majority of small business that has been in business for more than 5yrs that lease, are surviving since they actually are paying under market for rent, thus borrowed time. When a landlord figures this out and makes an adjustment, it usually takes out the current business. A business 5-10yrs in used to $2500 per month, suddenly goes to $4700 usually cant make that jump.

 

[CamoDeafie]

The old school Army Surplus stores before are just no longer.

Alley Cat Surplus in Boring, and Action Surplus in Eugene, are the two places I greatly prefer, but Aloha Surplus sometimes have good items for fair prices that the others don't have... although a lot of their items are overpriced, more than what Ebay items are; if I remember correctly, the owner is himself a collector, hence all the displays on the walls that are not for sale. There is another place on 99e in Milwaukie that I'd like to check out, think its called The War Room, at the site of Bomber Restaurant which used to have a B17 bomber on pylons. Andy &Bax, I don't shop there anymore because they raised prices on many things, and they sell mostly China made copies and clothing.

Edit. For actual, honest to goodness surplus prices and great gear, the shops around Joint Base McChord-Lewis are excellent, when I can get up there, but its not always worth the gas money, so its basically once a year trip if that.

 

[bpmiller1090]

bpmiller1090 posted a new review for the resource Aloha Surplus

 

[GoldMine]

GoldMine posted a new review for the resource Aloha Surplus

 

[Haniibooru]

Haniibooru posted a new review for the resource Aloha Surplus