Bringing out the white flag
<p>Pam Thompson of Coeur d'Alene talks with Army and Navy Outdoor owner Phil Motl on Wednesday about the upcoming closure of the store, which has been open since 1982. Thompson has been coming to the store for the last 25 years, and says it's a shame the store is closing.</p>
<p>Army and Navy Outdoor, located at 1620 N. Government Way in Coeur d'Alene, has been a community favorite since 1982. The military surplus and outdoor store is closing its doors soon due to lack of sales, as more and more people shop online.</p>
<p>Army and Navy Outdoor owner Phil Motl poses next to a expansive collection of more than 10,000 pins from various divisions of the United States military that are for sale in the store. After investing thousands of dollars into the collection, he hasn't yet found a place for the pins for when the store closes in the coming months.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE — It was a battle that Phil's Army and Navy Outdoor store could no longer withstand.
The military surplus and outdoor store, which has operated in Coeur d'Alene since 1982, is closing.
"The Internet killed me," said Phil Motl, who has owned the store since 2006. "People would try on boots here or get measured, then they'd go home and order them on the Internet so they don't have to pay sales tax."
The store at 1620 N. Government Way in Coeur d'Alene is holding a going-out-of-business sale, offering sales of up to 60 percent off through an undetermined date this winter.
"There's no pressure to be out of here, but by Christmas we should be beat up (inventory-wise)," Motl said.
Motl said the store had three good sales years after he took over, then the recession hit.
"We never recovered from there and the big-box stores started pouring in," he said. "I saw this coming years ago, so I was mentally prepared for it and not psyched out about it."
Motl said it's difficult to survive these days for local independent blue-collar stores such as his that rely heavily on workers in industries such as timber and construction.
"Most of the mills are gone and it's a whole new breed of cats out there," he said.
Before the recession hit, the store employed four full-time employees and one part-timer. Today, the store has four part-time workers, including himself.
Motl worked in four different Army/Navy stores and they were prosperous back in the day, he said.
"They've all closed now," he said. "Mine is the last of them."
Customer Maxine Goosey said it was Motl's dream to own an Army/Navy store. He always took pride in customer service.
"He'd give you the shirt off of his back," she said.
Coeur d'Alene's Dave Campbell shopped at the store on Wednesday for the first time since moving here in August.
He said he has been meaning to shop there and when he pulled up was saddened to see signs that the business is closing.
"I hate to see local places go under," he said. "That's why we moved here, because we like the small-town feel."