Patriotism Sells : War Launches Local Run on Gas Masks, Old Glory and Camouflage Gear

Even with the United States at war, Ventura County merchants say they are shocked to be selling so many flags these days. And they certainly didn’t foresee the demand for gas masks.

“We’ve sold 150 gas masks in the past week,” Michael Pinner, an employee at Battlefield Surplus in downtown Ventura, said Tuesday.

“In the beginning, people came in and bought them kind of as novelties,” he said. “As it came down to crunch time, people bought them just in case of terrorist attack.”

Normally, he said, the masks are not big sellers except at Halloween. As the gulf crisis heated up, however, sales “really took off and people started asking for them.”

Although the store laid in an extra supply, it is out of masks until next week, when it expects to receive shipments of Dutch and Israeli models, Pinner said. The Dutch masks sell for $12.95 while the Israeli versions go for about $24.

Joy Grove, manager of Ojai Valley Surplus and Discount in Ojai, said she had six gas masks in stock Monday after selling 20 to 30 in the past few days at $9.95 each. “Our suppliers don’t have any more to sell us,” she said.

“Flags, gas masks and desert camouflage stuff, that’s what’s selling,” Grove said. “I’ve been in the surplus business for more than 20 years, and I’ve never seen people so caught up in it before.”

Grove said some of her customers bought masks as gag gifts, “but some are serious. It’s something nice to have in the cupboard.”

However, she said, buyers do not seem to be outfitting the entire family for a gas attack. “They’re buying them one at a time,” she said.

Pinner said patches, bumper stickers, T-shirts and wall-size color maps of the war region are also big sellers. “People are buying things, not to glorify war but to support the troops,” he said.

Both Grove and Pinner said they are out of display-size American flags.

“We sold about 20 in the past week, which is very unusual,” Pinner said.

Grove said her store had sold about 30 display-size flags and had only a few small ones remaining Monday afternoon. “I could sell all we could get,” she said.

Clarence Rudd, owner of Rudd’s Christian Supplies, said his stores in Ventura and Thousand Oaks carry flags but are out of most sizes.

“Flag sales are the highest I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it was continuous. We’re going through a lot of books too on how all this relates to prophecy.”

Flags are no sideline, however, for Frances Harwood, a partner in American Eagle Flags and Banners in Ventura. They’re her stock in trade, and Monday afternoon she still had a few left.

“This is unprecedented, I’m sure. It’s certainly more than the Fourth of July,” said Harwood, who estimated that business was 15 to 20 times normal for a Monday. “Let’s call it an unexpected busy season. I don’t like the idea of profiting by war.”

She said the rush began a week ago and really took off Thursday, after the U.S. attack on Iraq.

“People were waiting at the door when I got here,” she said. “I didn’t think there would be that much patriotism.

“I was lucky. I got 144 more in on Saturday. But we’ll be sold out today. Bush should have warned me.”

Susan Clemens, flag-shopping with her husband, Tom, said she got the idea while watching the news on Sunday.

“I wanted to show our support for the troops,” she said. “I’m against our being there, but now that we are, I want to show we support them.”

She said she hung a yellow ribbon outside their Ojai home Monday after learning that Iraq was holding American prisoners of war.

Another customer, Susan Bailey, said anti-war protesters were a factor in her decision to pick up two flags and two flagpoles--one for work, one for home.

“It makes me sick every time I see somebody burning a flag,” she said.

Harwood, who carries flags from every nation on earth, said she’s running low on Israeli flags and has no more United Nations flags. And anybody who wants an Iraqi flag is out of luck, she said.

“All the little Iraqi flags were sold out,” she said. “People said they were going to carry them upside down.”

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.