Before big-box chain stores ruled the retail universe, there were stores like Woodville Surplus, a family-owned business on Woodville Road in Oregon that’s been around for 75 years.
Few of these independent stores remain today. But to walk through the doors of Woodville Surplus is to walk back in time to an era before elaborate merchandising, gleaming floors, branded displays, and homogenized customer service took over retail.
Consistent with its name, the store features genuine military surplus items such as clothing, ammo boxes, musette bags, freeze-dried meals, and ammo pouches. It also sells products made to resemble those of military grade that the store’s owner, Michael Felstein, calls “make-believe surplus.” It sells hunting and camping gear, knives, t-shirts with aggressive pro-gun and pro-America graphics, and tactical gear.Although the store used to sell firearms, it is no longer in that business, though it does offer gun accessories such as holsters, sights, targets, and ammunition. It also sells paintball and airsoft guns…