The Military Standard: Surplus City

Owners: Bob Appleby and sons Rob, John and Mike

Founded: 1962

Address: 3114 W. Sunshine St., Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 882-5313

Fax: (417) 882-4262

Products: Military surplus, closeouts and camping gear

Employees: 14

The Appleby family has felt the passing of every disaster, storm and war over the years at their Surplus City store. They have also weathered the changes.

The store had been a going concern since the late 1940s, but in 1962, Bob Appleby bought out his partner, John Woodside, and Surplus City took off from there, the family says.

In those days, the military surplus business was about military surplus. As government rules changed during the Vietnam War, military surplus dried up, and the Applebys shifted their stock to closeouts.

There was a time in the 1970s when the Applebys were big into hardware. They got out of that when Lowe’s and Home Depot came along.

Before Bass Pro Shops, the Applebys carried some fishing gear alongside their camping goods. That is mostly gone now, as the stock has ebbed and flowed with the times, currently settling on military surplus, closeouts and camping gear.

Bob Appleby’s sons, Rob, John and Mike, run the place now and share ownership with their father, who has been retired for 18 years. The Appleby boys have been working in the store since they were children.

From creative sales to niches

In the early days, the surplus lots the Applebys bought would be random assortments.

It sometimes took creativity to move it. One such item was the canvas machine gun cover with a leather tip used to cover the bow machine gun on a traveling Sherman tank.

“Mr. Woodside and my dad got those in the late 1950s,” Rob Appleby says. “Of course, nobody wanted them. They didn’t have any machine gun barrel they needed to cover up. So what they did was cut the canvas off of it. A Coke bottle fit perfectly in there. They cut a ring around that and left some leather attached at the back so you could hang it on your car window or door handle. They (fashioned) the can holder before those ever existed.”

Today, the Applebys often buy military-standard goods straight from the manufacturer. Surplus City supplier Daniel Fox of Fox Outdoor Products in suburban Chicago says that military and tactical business has boomed, not just with an increased demand from the security community but through the demand of recreational users such as paintball enthusiasts and hunters.

Boots are strong sellers at Surplus City; Rob Appleby says soldiers will sometimes buy them in large numbers to take back to base, since he carries them for less than the post exchanges on military installations. The store carries a line of newer boots designed to pass through metal detectors that are popular amongst Transportation Security Administration employees.

The store also has found a few niches such as rope and rubber.

“We have quite a bit of Polyfoam rubber,” Rob Appleby says, “We used to just carry big slabs of it and cut to fit. Now, we carry it from a cot size up to a queen-size bed in mattress pads. People will cover a couch or camper or boat seat.”

Full of product

These unique offerings drive the business, which has been at 3114 W. Sunshine St., with about 14,000 square feet, since 1968.

The contractor that decorates Bass Pro Shops is often in to pick up rope for decorating. Surplus City sells rescue boards off the shelf, and it frequently outfits police, fire, security and emergency medical workers.

Shopper Grant Story visits the store for its deep selection.

“I also appreciate the fact that you have to show ID to get first-responder apparel or things that, in an emergency, would identify you as a first responder,” says Story, who works closely with police officers and first responders. “I appreciate that they are taking on a little extra security with their shirts that say ‘Police’ on them.”

Bob Lewis, owner of Bob Lewis Army Surplus in Lebanon, says the Applebys have done a good job of diversifying and expanding their store.

Every disaster makes itself felt in the store. Rob Appleby says they got lucky with a load of Sterno emergency heating and lighting products they bought just before the ice storm. Still, they scrambled to restock the store during that weekend in January when they realized things would not be back to normal by Monday.

They also donated to Convoy of Hope during Hurricane Katrina and helped church groups load up on cots and foam rubber bound for the hurricane zone.[[In-content Ad]]