Bennett’s Military Supplies has relocated, reopened and revamped a bit.
In short, it has reloaded.
After 40 years at 302 Main St. in Little Rock, it was shut down for two weeks as owner Sheree Meyer and her husband, Doug Meyer, looked for another downtown location.
Bennett’s had been on the ground floor of the old three-story Fulk Building, which is being converted by Terraforma Inc. into the new home for the Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods advertising and public relations firm. Doug Meyer is a partner with Terraforma.
The Meyers found the new spot three blocks away at 608 Main St., the former Phillips Men’s Store location.
The window displays are not subtle. A 50-caliber aircooled machine gun is set up, and a bazooka is resting nearby.
But the store acknowledges fads and changing times.
The new quarters are a bit smaller than the old store, but that forced Bennett’s to get more organized and rethink its stock. It’s still a military surplus store, but it has added lines, manager Jason Cox said.
“We’re going to respect the old surplus,” Cox emphasized. “We’re going to have the old surplus as long as we’re in business.”
Yet assault weapons arrayed on a wall are not what they appear to be. The guns are Airsoft brand, for those who would simulate military assaults without the danger of live ammunition.
“It’s like paintball but with a 6-millimeter [plastic] BB,” Cox said. “We’ll let you go downstairs and let you shoot it and make sure you like it.”
That will be allowed in a shooting range that is still under construction, he said.
Cox said the weapons are not only similar in appearance to the real assault weapons - such as the Kalashnikov AK-47 and the M4 - but also in weight.
Carrying them creates a “muscle memory” that would make it easy to go to the real thing, Cox said.
The Airsoft-gun ammunition is lighter on the pocketbook. Bennett’s offers 5,000 rounds for $16.
Fifty rounds for the real AK-47 will cost you $23 at the Arkansas Armory Gun Store and Range in North Little Rock, salesman Daniel Woo said.
Another new line at Bennett’s is on the serious side: shirts designed for those who carry concealed weapons.
A fashion statement will come in the fall, Cox said. There will be jackets by Condor and Voodoo, replacing the old nylon flight jackets.
Business, Pages 22 on 04/22/2014