Wichita’s last military surplus store is gone, but one place still sells those items

Earlier this year, I reported that the city’s last military surplus store, G.I. Rose Military Surplus Etc. at 6310 E. Harry, was in danger of closing if the owner couldn’t find a buyer to take it over.

The store is now closed.

However, there is at least one Wichita store left that does sell some surplus supplies, even though they are only a small part of its inventory.

That’s the Yard, which is downtown at 725 E. Central.

“A lot of that stuff just isn’t available anywhere,” says Yard general manager Greg Lawless. “We don’t have near what we used to have.”

The store sells a wide variety of items, such as aluminum, steel and hardware. It opened in 1946, and at the time it had a lot of military surplus items following World War II.

These days, Lawless said, “If stuff does come available, it’s gone quick.”

He said the heyday of military surplus stores was in the 1980s because back then there were no other outlets for it.

Since then, numerous online options have sprung up for people to sell the items. Lawless said it’s the same story nationally. There just aren’t that many stores to sell military surplus items.

Occasionally, the Yard will get military clothing and duffel bags, though those are less frequent.

It also gets ammo boxes.

“That’s a really popular item,” Lawless said.

It also gets a lot of straps along with buckles and rings for adjusting those.

“We have the more industrial side of the military stuff,” Lawless said.

Even though less than 10% of the store is now military surplus, Lawless said there’s a lot of other things to look at.

“It’s stuff maybe you wouldn’t see other places,” he said. “Everybody kind of knows . . . if you don’t know where else to look, come look at the Yard because we probably have it.”