Aloha Surplus

[Northwest Firearms]

This thread is for the general discussion of the gun shop Aloha Surplus. Please add to the discussion here.

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[sweetbeard]

Pro's
Good supply of surpluss ammo.
Good supply of knives and military type clothes
Friendly
great selection
Right next to Reos Ribs.. ( whats better than ribs and surplus shopping? )
CONS
Some of the things are high priced! ( wool blankets, bags, ect )
don't open until noon
The ammo that they have plenty of is also high priced! But if you need it fast and can't wait for the internet, it's your best bet.

I give them a 4. would be higher if they dropped their prices.

But I still go there every few weeks

 

[The B]

i cannot stand that place. $30 for a vitnam-era beat to crap magazine? everything is about twice market value in there.. totally defeats the purpose of going to a surplus store.

 

[MarkSBG]

I NEVER go in because of the terrible prices.

 

[NWPilgrim]

The owner is a real collector. His prices are usually high, but he has had items on hand that were out of stock or hard to find elsewhere. I've bought NATO gas cans, ammo cans gloves, etc. from him. When I bought an M1 carbine he had a genuine surplus double mag pouch. The owner was real nice and offered to show me how to install it and answer any questions I might come up with about the Carbine.

I rate him very good as a collector retailer, not as a bargain basement surplus place. he has some cheap import stuff, but if you tell him what you are looking for he is very helpful and low key.

 

[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!

 

[raftman]

Same complaint as everyone else... really bad prices. Corrosive surplus 7.62 Tokarev for nearly twice the typical price. I don't remember specifically but it seemed like $17 or so for a box of 70! I realize that's not all that expensive as far as centerfire pistol ammo goes, but it's expensive for that specific caliber and kind.

 

[Phonelesscord]

A bit on the high end for prices but this store has a LOT of great product. Some oddballs too for a fair price as well.

Owner is knowledgeable, willing to help and generally friendly. He knows he is asking a bit more to buy the item now and isnt afraid to say it. His terms of sales are very clear and, most of all, very fair. The owner hires friendly employees who are also very fair.

5/5

 

[raftman]

Went in there once more today, and I've officially decided, never again! $21.99 for a box of 50 rounds of Brown Bear 9x18? It's idiotic, online it's available for under $10/box, under $9 if you buy in bulk. Seems like all of the other local outfits that carry that stuff have it for more like $14 or $15/box, which is still by far cheaper than those clowns charge.

 

[The B]

Went in there once more today, and I've officially decided, never again! $21.99 for a box of 50 rounds of Brown Bear 9x18? It's idiotic, online it's available for under $10/box, under $9 if you buy in bulk. Seems like all of the other local outfits that carry that stuff have it for more like $14 or $15/box, which is still by far cheaper than those clowns charge.

why charge less and have to move more product, i.e., keep up on your inventory, when you can just charge more than twice as much, and bank on the occasional sucker that walks in and has no clue that he doesn't need to spend that much. it's a shame they target the occasional drive-by type... seem to me that if they put some effort into being friendlier, had better prices, they'd develop "regulars" who come in and buy bubblegum all the time. since their regulars would be happy with them, they'd then also get a lot of word-of-mouths. the only time i ever recommended this place, it was "well, you could always go to aloha surplus and buy a complete piece of bubblegum for twice as much, but you don't have to wait for it to ship." i usually tell people to steer clear.

just the moronic musings of a business man... what do i know.

 

[CWI guy]

So where are all the other surplus stores at? Oh... that's right they all went out of business. For some reason Aloha Surplus has stayed in business for 25 years and is still going strong. I wounder if that's because of the pricing? It also helps that he has good employees and is very helpful to the customers.

PS

If you want a good laugh google aloha surplus comments.

 

[The B]

So where are all the other surplus stores at? Oh... that's right they all went out of business. For some reason Aloha Surplus has stayed in business for 25 years and is still going strong. I wounder if that's because of the pricing? It also helps that he has good employees and is very helpful to the customers.

PS

If you want a good laugh google aloha surplus comments.

i don't know when all these other surplus places went out of business, but obviously the reason business is still "strong" is because it's the only place around.

and there's andy and bax, in portland. still over priced, but not really as, and they have a way better selection.

next time i'm in aloha i'll stop in again and see if they've improved any. if they have, i'll come back and post that it's so.

 

[mrsaturn7085]

Nothing really made me say "wow" but I might pick up some mil-surp ammo at some point. Customer service was alright, but nothing special.

 

[raftman]

... I might pick up some mil-surp ammo at some point. ...

... if you wanna pay 2 or 3 times the going rate.

 

[Asp]

The owner is a real collector. His prices are usually high, but he has had items on hand that were out of stock or hard to find elsewhere. I've bought NATO gas cans, ammo cans gloves, etc. from him.

I rate him very good as a collector retailer, not as a bargain basement surplus place. he has some cheap import stuff, but if you tell him what you are looking for he is very helpful and low key.

+1
I have the same experience.

The Good:

• They have rare items, some that that I have a hard time finding online.
• To have a place where I can try things on is nice.
• Staff is helpful and polite so long as one knows what one is looking for

The Bad:

• Expensive at times
• Minimum purchase requirements
• Not a lot of newer military equipment from when I was last there (2 months ago).
• Blown up superman is no longer there. I asked about him, the owner said his (Superman's) head is somewhere.

 

[abbadon]

I was excited the first time I stopped by. It was the only time I stopped by. High prices, no selection. Mostly used camping gear and chinese knives.

I must accept the fact that the days of a military surplus store actually selling real military surplus are gone. Damn liberals.

 

[raftman]

Well... maybe I am getting soft as I grow older or something but I decided to give these guys another chance. This time I was simply looking for standard 7.62x39 AK mags, particularly steel, mil-surp mags. They had em... for $35 a piece! I could get 3 of them for that price elsewhere! No thanks guys. I could understand a few bucks difference here and there... but at 3x the price... who buys from there?!

 

[mkwerx]

They used to be the only place locally that I could reliably find BDU's I needed for work. American made, winter weight XL-L size in black were always available. $50 a pop was about the going rate everywhere else too. Everything else in there was a bit on the high side, price wise. I could never bring myself to buy boots from them - $120 for some old surplus boots...I could get danners for just a few bucks more, or just go down the street to Redwing and buy boots from them.

Did buy some wool gloves and liners from them - but mostly because I didn't wanna wait for shipping from an internet retailer. Have bought surplus ammo from them, haven't priced them in a couple years. They were OK the last time I bought.

Purchased a couple cheap chinese knives to throw in the tackle bag - don't need a great knife to cut monofilament tangles. Bought a cheapo expandable baton from them too just to far around with. It worked alright for a $30 baton. Got stolen before I had a chance to break it.

I'd rate them an "eh" for price structure - but it's still a good way to kill 15 minutes.

 

[The B]

I remember going in there for one of their ridiculously over-priced expired tritium lensatic compasses.. the tritium was completely out in the ONE they had in stock, but he still wanted full price... $130? 150? something ridiculous for a surplus item with a shelf life.

Just one more random memory of hating that place

 

[james83]

Anyone know if aloha surplus have 5.45x39mm ammo?