A surplus store or military surplus store in the Commonwealth of Nations sells items that are used, or purchased but unused, and no longer needed. The surplus is often military, government or industrial excess often called army-navy stores or war surplus stores in the United States. A surplus store may also sell items that are past their use by date.
Military surplus
An army surplus store, or navy surplus store, is any store, usually retail, which sells military surplus — general equipment that was intended for the military but is unable to be used or originally purchased in excess by the military. These stores often sell camping equipment or military clothing. Following the First and Second World Wars, large amounts of former military clothing and equipment were sold in these stores
Known as "military surplus stores" or "army navy stores", surplus stores in the U.S. typically carry military or military-spec equipment. After the First and SecondWorld Wars and Vietnam, large amounts of military surplus was left over from the large amounts of equipment made for drafted troops. However, with the advent of the military being volunteer and the fighting force being smaller, nowadays most military stores have had to switch to selling military-spec items. These mil-spec items are civilian remakes of military items - some being of military quality and some poor knockoffs. There are few "real" military stores left with many going out of business or moving online. Among the few authentic military stores left are Army Navy Warehouse and Army Surplus Warehouse.
In Canada
Known as "army surplus" stores, these typically also carry sporting goods related to hunting, fishing, and camping.
In China
Army surplus stores in China are very common. They mostly specialize in clothing, footwear, tarpaulins and blankets, but also commonly sell occupational safety equipment.
In Germany
At the end of the Second World War, the allied forces initially confiscated stock and material of the German army. In 1948 a government agency, the Staatliche Erfassungsgesellschaft für öffentliches Gut, was formed to manage the sale of this army surplus. In reference to the name of this agency, the army surplus was called Stegware. The surplus included 500,000 tonnes or stock and over 150,000 tonnes of scrap. In the early 1950s the US military began to add their own surplus from the war. The joint surplus was sold in so called Steg shops across Germany until the 1980s. Goods included used and new clothing, camping equipment and tools. In the early days vehicles and heavier equipment were also sold.
