Oracle Online

« The Race Files: Thanksgiving: A time to be thankful and a time to be mindful | Main | St. Paul could be first in the world to use Personal Rapid Transit »

November 23, 2004

After 17 years of business, military merchant turns toward retirement

Don Tuberman sits behind an awkward-looking machine as he makes dog tags for two male customers who wait at the counter.

The machine plunks and whirs as it imprints words on the small pieces of metal, but Tuberman finds room above the noise to ask his customers what else he can do for them.

In the store’s earlier years, the windows of the army surplus store advertised the dog tags, which
Tuberman said have always been good sellers.

“We make a lot of them, even for kids and dogs,” Tuberman said.

Tuberman has owned the Twin City Army/Navy Store, located at 734 N. Snelling Ave., for 17 years, and he will soon retire. His store windows, once filled with T-shirts and other items on display, are now home to haphazardly arranged mannequins and a neon-green cardboard sign that says “For Rent.”

“[My customers] are sorry to see me leave,” Tuberman said. “It has been a fun business.”
Tuberman fell into selling military merchandise after a friend already involved in the business suggested the idea.

Though Tuberman served in the army, he said his time of service was in no way connected to decision to open a military store.

Instead, he said, it was his experience as a women’s clothing salesman that drove him toward his ownership.

Twin City Army/Navy is a jungle of camouflage nets, shirts, pants and jacketsčitems Tuberman calls his “biggest sellers.”

Socks, mess kits, knives and even gas masks are among other inventory items. If it’s military related, Tuberman probably has it.

But not all of Tuberman’s merchandise has received such positive feedback. He said there have been a few complaints in the past regarding T-shirts on display in his windows.

“There were a few [people] who found fault with a T-shirt [on display],” Tuberman said. The T-shirt that caused the minor controversy said: “Join the Marines, go to exotic places, meet interesting people; kill ’em.”

Tuberman was notified about the complaints through the Hamline-Midway Coalition, though he said he did not see what all of the fuss was about.

“I feel sorry for people who worry about things like that,” he said. “It’s not like I put pictures of naked women in my windows.”

Though Tuberman said complaints against his store were generally few and far between throughout its history in the Midway, there were some protesters who once stood outside his doors during the Gulf War.
The protesters’ concern was with a sign in the store’s window that read “We Support Our Troops.”

“I wasn’t encouraging people to go to war,” he said, “but if they don’t support our troops, God help them.”

The few minor complaints haven’t left the optimistic Tuberman hard-hearted, however.

“I have met some wonderful people over the years,” he said. “Of course you meet some people you won’t miss, but it’s nice to know there are good people out there.”

Though Tuberman says he will miss operating his store, he is looking forward to what he plans to accomplish in retirement.

“I do some volunteer work, and I plan to expand on that,” he said. “I tutor inner-city kids and want to work for the humane society and possibly in hospitals.”

Tuberman said it isn’t a bad time to leave the Army surplus business, because it is turning in a new direction.

“It is getting more difficult,” he said. “[Business owners] will have to change and sell only items you can’t find in chain stores like Target.” Tuberman said that he was forced to eliminate items such as camp stoves from his inventory due to big-business competition.

But the hunters, sportsmen and military buffs that Tuberman says were his primary client base can’t find specialized military books, pins and flags at Target. Nor does Target boast the services offered by the smiling, reserved man who can make a dog tag in two minutes.

Posted by msveum at November 23, 2004 11:02 AM

Comments

Post a comment