MARIETTA — After nearly 70 years, Hodge Army Navy — Cobb’s iconic military surplus store — is closing its doors.
The store opened in 1955 by the late John W. Hodge, a Cartersville native and former Lockheed employee who was tired of working the graveyard shift.
He had witnessed the sheer amount of decommissioned supplies Lockheed was ridding itself of at the time, and saw a business opportunity, according to his son-in-law and current store owner and operator, Paul Earls.
“They were doing contracts around the clock,” Earls said. “He quit, and bought a panel truck, and started selling decommissioned tools from Lockheed, which eventually led to the first store.”
A post 9/11 shift
The store initially sourced its goods from Lockheed and military auctions. But after 9/11, Earls said, the business model completely changed.
“There was a problem with camouflage when we went into Desert Storm. There was no desert (patterns). All the military before that had been Vietnam, Korea, World War II — it was all woods and jungle type camouflage,” Earls said. “For the Middle East, (the military) had to develop new camouflage patterns.”