Flag Shop Owners Love a Parade Without Waver

A box of 100 3-by-5-foot polyester American flags stood ready for delivery behind the counter at the American Eagle Flags and Banners shop in Ventura.

The package, to be delivered to a Boy Scout troop in Camarillo, was a fitting order with the Fourth of July fast approaching and business on the rise for the mom-and-pop flag retailer.

“We have steady business throughout the year, but we see an increase in May and June,” said Carol Lanshe, who owns the nearly 10-year-old store with her husband, Dan Lanshe. “There are a lot of parades. Ojai is very much into the Fourth of July. People are coming in because they are having parties, or they want flags for their floats. The Dudley House [in Ventura] is using our flags for their Fourth of July celebration.”

Although the period between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July is typically the busiest, American flags are popular year-round, said Carol Lanshe, 68.

“We have a bunch of customers who put their flags out all the time, who come in every couple of months for replacements,” she said. “A lot of them are retired people, a lot of them are veterans, or people living on the bases.”

On any given day, the Ventura shop might have upward of 1,000 American flags of varying sizes and material--predominantly nylon, polyester and cotton, said 69-year-old Dan Lanshe. But Old Glory is not the be-all and end-all of the operation.

The Lanshes carry state flags, armed forces flags, international flags, Olympic flags, confederate flags and even pirate flags. They also carry a variety of banners and will customize orders for clients.

American Eagle also serves as a clearinghouse for flag facts. If the Lanshes can’t answer a flag-related question off the top of their heads, they have a reference shelf of about 40 publications to assist them.

“Even the libraries will send people to us,” Carol said.

It was Carol’s mother, Verna Macdonald, and sister, Frances Harwood, who opened the shop in December 1986. Harwood, a retired schoolteacher, had had difficulty locating American flags for her classrooms and decided there was a need for a locally owned flag shop.

The Lanshes took over the business four years ago after the deaths of both Macdonald and Harwood.

In its decade of operation, Carol Lanshe said, the store has seen a nice growth in business, largely due to word of mouth and a fairly aggressive advertising approach.

“Ten years ago, I can remember coming out to help my sister in the summertime and I could sit sometimes for the whole day without any business,” she said. “Traditionally the flag business is very conservative in its growth, but Dan and I belong to four chambers of commerce, we’re in the Yellow Pages, we have radio ads.”

At 800 square feet, the American Eagle Flags and Banners store is pretty much filled to the brim. The Lanshes said they have considered moving to larger quarters but are satisfied maintaining business as is.

“We are staying small because that is what we are able to handle by ourselves,” said Carol. “But for a young couple who really wanted to go after it, this place could be a mecca. Go downtown [Ventura], or Oxnard Boulevard . . . there are flags and banners everywhere.”

The flag store brings in about $140,000 in sales annually, said Dan Lanshe.