Banner Days Few and Far Between

Buying an American flag for today’s Fourth of July holiday is easily accomplished at any local discount or dry-goods store, but to San Fernando Valley flag dealers, there’s something unsavory about those $9.95 models.

For starters, they’re made of cheap material and tend to wear out quickly. Worse yet, at least from the dealers’ point of view, they’re made in Taiwan--not the good ol’ U.S. of A.

“If you sell American flags, you kind of feel like they should be made in America,” said Howard Furst, owner of AAA Flag & Banner Manufacturing Co., a 10-store chain with an outlet in Sherman Oaks.

The Valley plays host to a surprising number of flag distributors and retailers. More than a dozen are listed in the yellow pages, and many more companies that aren’t listed sell flags as a sideline.

But while there are plenty of competitors selling the stars and stripes, the truth is patriotism alone doesn’t pay the bills. Most flag merchants have other, more lucrative sidelines, and those who do specialize in flags survive by selling to large clients, such as local government, entertainment studios and hotels.

“I don’t think you can put your kids through college selling flags,” said Furst, whose chain gets the bulk of its income from signs. “People just aren’t as patriotic here as they are in the Colony states.”

Maybe there’s nothing more American than the red, white and blue, but most flag dealers say sales have been fairly static in recent years, with the exception of the Gulf War period.

By and large, residential customers tend to be ex-military types who like to fly Old Glory during holidays, mostly Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and to a lesser extent Flag Day. And flag buyers tend to be older, usually 40 plus.

Immigrants, on the other hand, tend to be more patriotic and often go out of their way to find the flag of their native country, said Silvia Katzman, manager of AAA’s Sherman Oaks store.

“We sell quite a few international flags. We carry every country in stock, but we do sell more of some countries than others: Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Japan,” she said.

The better flags are made of high-quality nylon or cotton with the stripes sewn on and the stars embroidered. A sampling of Valley stores found that prices range from $30 to $40 for the most common 3-by-5-foot model.

The flags sold at hardware and discount stores, on the other hand, tend to be made of cheaper nylon, with the stars and stripes printed rather than sewn on.

“Flags used to be a real specialty thing. Now, you see them in the supermarket, Target, Pic ‘n’ Save. People can find them for less than $10,” said Roy Megahan, general manager of Van Nuys Awning Co. Inc., which also sells flags. “They’re real low-end stuff.”

Still, that’s probably good enough for the average buyer, he conceded. “For the guy who flies a flag one or two times a year, they’re fine.”

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Chris Young, owner of Sign-A-Rama in Chatsworth, said he sells flags, but only as a convenience for his corporate customers who may need a flag from time to time.

“It’s a small-ticket item. An invoice for a flag may be $30 to $60 where our [outdoor advertising] signs average more like $500 or $600 an invoice,” Young said. “Mostly, we sell flags to businesses and corporations, and people who want one that’s going to last.”

Furst, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, sells flags partly as a convenience for his regular customers but also out of a sense of patriotism.

His chain of sign stores, which are mostly in Southern California but also in Miami and New York, sell about $1 million worth of flags a year. While the number sounds impressive, flags sell for about $36, so margins are low.

Still, said Furst, “It’s a business I feel good about being in.”

Roz Cannon, owner of Flag Headquarters in Burbank, has been selling Old Glory since 1960. She sells some flags to a few loyal residential customers, but primarily has survived all these years selling to local government, large corporations and the film studios.

Her customers include the city and county of Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, such corporations as Nestle and film studios such as Warner Bros., Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox.

Cannon’s flags adorn the television show “The West Wing,” and she’s putting together a custom order for the movie “Pearl Harbor,” which needs 75 48-star flags to drape over coffins.

The costliest flag Cannon ever sold was a $6,300, 48-star flag custom-made for the 1990 movie “Avalon.” The flag was 48 by 72 feet.

“Everything we do for the studios has to look real,” Cannon said.

From her perspective, Cannon believes people are about as patriotic as they’ve ever been.

She is seeing more competition from people with little business experience trying to break into the flag and banner business, often starting mail-order companies out of their garages.

“Everyone’s going to get rich, but it doesn’t work that way. In many cases, they go belly up, but it makes it difficult for legitimate businesses,” she said.

Key to surviving in the flag business, said Cannon, is anticipating demand.

That’s why she’s stocking flags and decorations for this year’s Democratic National Convention in L.A., even though she has yet to see a surge in orders.

“I just have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of call for it,” she said. “You can’t always anticipate 100%, but you pretty well know what the trends are going to be.”