Belgium has its lot of oddities, but I had never realized that military surpluses might be one of them until I had a conversation with my friend Gareth who claimed never to have seen such a thing in Wales. That’s when I started to think that maybe, such stores aren’t as popular in other countries as they are in mine.
All in all, a military surplus, generally called “Stock Américain” (“American stock”), is a place where you’ll find exactly what you would think, plus a few twists. You can buy flags, combat boots, hiking equipment, uniforms (I once bought very cute US army mechanic overalls there), patches, giant pots and pans, as well as an impressively large array of things you will never need unless you’re a hardcore survivalist who’s planning to spend the next twenty years in a nuclear shelter.
The other thing you can find in most army surpluses —and which I find extremely disturbing — is Nazi paraphernalia. Now I don’t know who exactly would want to splurge an ungodly amount of money on Third Reich saucers, but here we are because this world is fucked up and there really isn’t much you or I can do about it.
On top of the misplaced nostalgia, you can also buy demilitarized weapons and air guns, which are almost as equally disturbing, cowboy hats, and the occasional shiny belt buckle with a bald eagle on it.
All in all, Belgian army surpluses look like what European people in the 1950s might have imagined the US to be based on a single John Wayne movie. They’re at the intersection of pragmatism, country line dance clubs (they’re a thing in Belgium), WWII re-enactment (also a thing in Belgium), paranoia, and a general misunderstanding of history. But they’re also where you can get damn good hiking socks for the price of a sandwich, so I still visit them from time to time, and I remain ever so fascinated at the complete weirdness of Belgium.