T he road trip part of this article actually first took to thehighway a few years back. It was instigated when a shoot-ing buddy excitedly related a tale about an amazing army

surplus store he had accidentally stumbled across. My com-pradre Matt raved at length about it to the point where his enthu-siasm piqued my interest. I mean, what’s not to like about anarmy surplus store? Think about it, rows upon rows of militarygear, clothing and doodads from a bygone era.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for places like that.Poking about hole-in-the-wall surplus stores sorting throughodds and ends looking for something that catches my eye isenjoyable to me. However, I could tell by the way Matt’s eyesglazed over as he recounted wandering through aisle after aislethat this place was a little out of the ordinary. Still, even thoughMatt is normally a bit reserved and given to few words, I did feelhe was probably pumping the place up a bit. I mean, it couldn’tbe that cool, could it? But even so, it might be interesting tocheck out.

So the following weekend Emily and I set out in search of thismilitary surplus Mecca. Without even knowing the name of theplace we headed north, away from our home along the rockycoast, to Brewer, Maine. We had a general idea where the storewas, and after poking about for a bit, Emily’s exceptional senseof direction had us sitting in the parking lot. We had arrived at

Maine Military Supply. Although we did not know it at the time,walking through the front door we found ourselves entering thelargest Army/Navy store in New England.

I’m not sure, but I think I just stopped and stared when I firstwalked in. Staring at me was a M1910 Maxim gun on its dis-tinctive Sokolov wheeled mount and slightly to my left on thestairway heading up to a second level was a display of anti-tankweapons. Slightly to the right of the Maxim was a huge statue ofa charging GI with a M1 Garand clasped tightly in his hands. Tomy far right was a wall of black guns in the firearms department,including a Browning .30 cal. mounted on a tripod. As I took astep forward to start to poke around in one of the many aisles Icould already tell I was going to like this place. All it took was aquick scan to realize that this was a whole lot more than just amilitary surplus store.

Since I first ventured into Maine Military Supply this compa-ny has continued to grow, expand and impress me. So, for thisissue of SGN rather than traveling to some foreign manufacturerI thought I would cover this local Maine company, and the manbehind it. Maine Military Supply was founded by a down-to-earth guy named Frank Spizuoco in 1999. Over the past fewyears I’ve had a chance to come to know Frank and have watchedhis out-of-the-box thinking put into action. In my mind he is aexcellent example of someone living the traditional American

dream thanks to insightful thinking laced with good old-fash-ioned hard work.

A native of rural Dexter, Maine Frank, like many of us whogrew up here, left his home state for bigger and better opportu-nities not long after graduating. He eventually ended up inMartha’s Vineyard working for a small Army/Navy store calledthe Army Barracks. It was here that Frank realized the potentialof army surplus. Over the next nine years he slowly but steadilyadvanced through the company learning the business.

During this time he did demographic studies on picking storelocations and learned how to manage employees and how to buysurplus. The small company he worked for prospered and soonadded another store. Frank eventually became a regional manag-er and Army Barracks became a chain of five Army/Navy stores.

In 1998, though, Frank decided to return to his native Dexter,Maine. I guess Mainiacs are funny that way, we may leave for atime but the North Atlantic always seems to call us home.Certain that he could start a successful business venture Frankborrowed $10,000 from three people. This he used to buy a bigbox van and a dog tag machine. Sound crazy? Well the peoplethat loaned him the money thought so, but Frank proved them

If you’re in Brewer, Maine, on a Sunday afternoon, don’tbe surprised if you bump into Fortier inside MaineMilitary Supply, one of his favorite far-north hangouts.

wrong. He began going to flea markets, swap meets and motor-cycle events. That funny dog tag machine? Well it paid for itselfalmost immediately, and he still has it today.

By 1999 his hard work had paid off, and he had raised enoughcapital to open a store in Newport, Maine. Maine MilitarySupply was born, and Frank hasn’t looked back since. Althoughlocated in rural Maine, the small 1,200 square foot store was aninstant success. Admittedly he did notice the market in Mainewas a bit different than in Martha’s Vineyard. Here in Maine peo-ple are less fashion conscious and more interested in practicaloutdoorwear, especially when it comes to cold weather gear.

He also noticed people were looking for hunting and sportinggoods and so expanded to answer the need. In addition he alsobegan selling items on this new fangled gadget called the internet.

The overnight success of the Newport store though had shownhim that the Army/Navy surplus market was much larger than hehad realized or even dreamed. At this point he had a choice tomake, be satisfied with his small store in rural Maine, or take theplunge for something bigger. A short time later he was riding

through the city of Brewer and noticed a vacant strip mall.Jokingly, he described it as, “Having tumbleweeds blowingthrough the parking lot.” Despite the mall being devoid of life, hisgut instinct told him this was the place, and he took the plunge.

In 2000 he opened a 3,000 square foot store in that desertedstrip mall in Brewer while his wife Val took over the Newportstore. Yes, Maine Military Supply is very much a husband/wifeteam. Val was a instrumental part in making the Brewer transi-tion possible. Without her continued support and hard work thebusiness would not be where it is today. Frank had this to sayabout his wife and partner, “On the bad days she’s right there topick me up.”

Unlike the Newport store, the new store had much more depthto its offerings. “Basically,” Frank said, “I just listened to what thepeople were asking for.” So along with a vast array of U.S. andEuropean military surplus clothing and equipment he added hunt-ing and camping supplies, a wide knife selection, paintball gunsand gear and, seeing as this is Maine, lots of cold-weather gear.

To be honest, this was a bad time to be getting into selling sur-plus. Since the late 1990s the whole worldwide supply of surplusmilitary items has been diminishing. What was available camewith inflated price tags due to foreign buyers who were willing

to pay more. Due to this many older traditional Army/Navystores disappeared as they were unable to adapt to the changingmarket. Frank overcame this daunting hurdle by listening to hiscustomers and expanding into new markets.

Then the Islamic terrorists struck on September 11th 2001.Following this he said things just went crazy. “One week I wasselling a gas mask to a kid because he thought it would be coolfor Halloween, a week later people are buying them out of fearof a terrorist attack.” Panic buying from people out of stateforced him to install four new phone lines and to hire more peo-ple to deal with the mad rush before things settled back down.

In 2002 Frank expanded into a larger store which is MaineMilitary Supply’s present location. With 8,500 square feet and

Maine Military Supply was started by Frank Spizuoco in1999. From a small store in rural Maine it has grown tobecome the largest Army/Navy store in New England.

Using borrowed money, Frank purchased this old Graphatype dog tag machine to start his business. It turned out to be a smart move and he still has it today.

Walking through the door, you come face to face withthis much larger than life GI. You know right away you’renot in some plain-vanilla big box retailer.

Headed up the stairs to the second floor you’ll find a display of shoulder fired anti-tank weapons. Behind the counter are everything from .50s to 5.7mms.

two levels it provided him with much needed space. The next bigstep came in 2003 when he submitted paperwork for his FederalFirearms License and began dealing in firearms. One thing hequickly picked up on was people were fascinated by all the sur-plus firearms available in the pages of SHOTGUN NEWS.However they were hesitant to order, not knowing what kind ofcondition they’d show up in.

So Frank decided he wanted to try to have three or four ofevery type of surplus firearm currently being imported sitting onhis shelves. This way a customer could come in, paw them allover, pick out the one he wanted and leave with it that day. As tobe expected, this was difficult due to the amount of money tiedup in inventory. So when he was first starting out he’d sell onegun, then buy two to replace it. In this way he slowly worked atincreasing his inventory.

As can be expected the ever-growing firearms department wasa perfect fit for the store. Now a customer could spot somethingof interest online or in SHOTGUN NEWS and simply stop byMaine Military Supply. There he could usually find exactly whathe was looking for, and if not Frank was happy to order it for him.

Soon the racks were filled with Mausers, Mosins, Enfields,Yugo SKSs, Mle 36s, and all manner of Kalashnikovs, FALs,HKs, ARs, various black rifles and much more. To feed them werecases upon cases of ammunition from common 7.62x51 to not socommon 8x56R and everything you could think of in-between.

Things simply spiraled from there. Along with the firearmsand ammunition, people wanted accessories, both factory andaftermarket. You know how it is. So Frank obliged with all man-ner of military surplus stripper clips, bayonets, magazines, scopemounts, slings and other assorted goodies.

Mainers tend to like to tinker, so he added demilled rifle kitsso people could build their own boomstick. In addition he alsoadded all manner of aftermarket items from folding stocks toholsters. Then he added a whole new department of cleaninggear, brushes, rods, bore solvents, patches and anything else onemight need to keep the boomstick well maintained.

Yes, Maine Military Supply is certainly packed to the gills withall sorts of neat items, but there is more to it than just that. The storehas a certain cool flavor about it. In part, this stems from the eye-catching displays scattered throughout the store. These includeDewat Vickers and Maxim guns, a host of anti-tank weaponsincluding a live World War II German Panzerschreck, huge Sovietpedestal mounted naval binoculars, cavalry carts and much more.

He regrets selling a Swiss military Condor 350cc motorcyclethat was displayed in the store for some time, but he continues tobuy interesting pieces when they catch his eye. When I askedhim about the displays he shrugged and replied, “Hey, they arenot only cool, but they are part of history. Not only that but theyare educational, and best of all, they are real.”

Although the store itself is cool, without a doubt it’s the peoplewho make Maine Military Supply standout. Frank is not only theowner, but often he’s also the guy ringing up or shipping your order.He’s down to earth, good natured and very likable. Better still he’sworked hard to find good people to be part of his store. Walk up tothe firearms counter and you’ll find people, like Todd Rogers andRyan Nyer, who are not only friendly but also well versed in theplethora of guns, ammo and gear surrounding them. There’s arelaxed atmosphere where you are surrounded by like minded folksand can talk about guns, ammo or whatever. I like that.

Targets? Maine Military Supply has you covered. Howabout a new-in-the-wrap Soviet Naval binocular, completewith pedestal mount? If so, you know where to look.

Any truly great surplus store has to have a barrel of bar-gain priced rifles, and Maine Military Supply does. Youjust sort through them and choose your bargain.

MMS has a very complete knife department, which includes such items as theseGerman gravity knives. Put to the test, they proved faster than a New York minute.

Maine Military has items for any budget, including surplus like these trioxane tabs,aftermarket firearms accessories and high end tactical lights and lasers.

So, what would you find if you were to wander into MaineMilitary Supply today? More items than I can list here! But togive you a flavor, 90% of their firearms are military related.Pushing past those you will find a huge selection of knives, LEgear, clothing, camping and survival gear, cold weather clothing,

snow shoes, skis, hats and gloves, all manner of bags and packs,all sorts of boots, glasses and googles, MREs, books and maga-zines, a entire section of leather jackets, SureFire and Insight tac-tical lights, targets, paintball and airsoft guns and supplies,ammo cans of all shapes and sizes, field phones and much more.

The future? Well, that looks very bright indeed. Frank madethe hard decision to close the original store in Newport onJanuary 1, 2007. This was done to allow him to focus more atten-

tion on web sales to allow him to reach a much broader audience.Basically you can expect his website to double in size and he’llbe heavily promoting it.

In addition, he is moving into NFA weapons. Soon you willsee a selection of sound suppressors, short barrel weapons andtransferable machine guns for sale. Although many people areinterested in such items they don’t actually know how to go aboutpurchasing them. Frank intends to show how easy the paperworkreally is, and many items such as suppressors are surprisinglyinexpensive.

Frank’s long term goal is to build a “smokin’ Army surplusstore” from the ground up. He’s already purchased the land andis currently designing it. Some of his ideas include a indoorrange and machine gun rental. Knowing Frank, it will probablybe marked by a Panther tank in the entranceway or a MIG fight-er on the roof. Yeah, it’s gonna be cool.

Now, for those of you from away who will never have thepleasure of visiting the home of the 20th Maine, do not despair.Although you may never enjoy a lobster while overlooking theblack Atlantic here in Maine, you can still shop the aisles ofMaine Military Supply via their website. Much of what the storeoffers is available on-line, there are many good deals to be had,so check out their website www.mainemilitary.com. So, justbecause you’re from away doesn’t mean time spent reading thisarticle was a total bust for you.

Me? I often stop by on a Sunday afternoon following churchand a hearty meal. I like to talk to the guys minding the store asI poke about. It’s a relaxing place to visit, and it’s very seldomthat I don’t find something really cool that I just must have. So,if you see someone who looks like “that SHOTGUN NEWSguy” poking around on the second floor, don’t be surprised. I’mjust looking for a good deal.

There’s a good selection of cold weather gear, includingmilitary and civilian snowshoes, and even a possible gag gift for that hard-to-buy-for special someone.

735 Wilson Street • Brewer, Maine 04412877-608-0179 • www.mainemilitary.com

Maine Military Supply