Survival retailers staying (very) alive
The crowd outside the survival store in Upland, Calif., stood waiting as the manager opened shop a few minutes early.
On a normal Friday, that eager crew wouldn’t be there.
But as droves of people snap up enough pasta to feed Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow and raid shelves of toilet paper in the age of the novel coronavirus, some are prepping for the worst.
That means flocking to stores like Prep and Save and snatching up their stock of survival food, hand sanitizer and masks, canceling vacations and, for those envisioning future disasters, investing in shelters.
“Our phones have been ringing off the hook,” said Tony DeCastro, manager of Prep and Save, as dozens of customers milled around the aisles. “People are buying whatever they can get their hands on.”
Over the last few weeks, customers have been peppering staff with questions. How should I apply this anti-viral stuff? What’s the best way to store emergency water?
“We are running at 300% to 500% of business,” said Keith Hillen, the store’s owner. “It’s been happening since the end of January, beginning of February.”
The shop is “parsing” disposable face masks to buyers, he added. “Otherwise, we would run out.”
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in response to the outbreak, which the World Health Organization last week officially called a pandemic.
Most household budgets can cover hand sanitizer and family-size bags of rice. For some denizens of the 1% and the would-be 1%, personal shelters are becoming a must-have item.
Underground bunkers at Ron Hubbard’s warehouse in Montebello, Calif., have been selling quickly, purchased by people who had been contemplating buying a shelter over the last few weeks or who had wanted one for a while but never got around to it.
Some of his clientele includes celebrities, he said, “ones that you see in magazines literally every week.”
“No one is buying a bunker only because of coronavirus,” said Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters. “The people buying a bunker wanted a bunker before corona, but this has pushed them. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They’re like, ‘Let’s just do it.’”
His bunkers range from those Hubbard says are for the average, working-class American — about 100 square feet, with space for two people — to more luxurious designs, which include a bedroom and room for a leather couch and large TV. Unlike Cold War-era shelters, which he said “felt like a dungeon,” these “are like a house inside.” Most are premanufactured with steel.
Prices start around $25,000, he said. He sold most of his inventory last week, he added, with the exception of a “couple tiny ones.”
“I sold two within 30 seconds today,” he said, “that were almost a quarter-million [dollars] apiece.”
Earlier this month, Jim Cobb published a special edition of his Prepper Survival Guide magazine dedicated to the coronavirus. The issue included “25 essential tips to stay safe” and a section on which face masks “really work.”
Hundreds of people have reached out to the Wisconsin-based writer via social media and emails over the last few weeks, he said. Some are people who have been prepping for years and are offering expertise to those without any experience, while others are newcomers who want to learn the basics.
“I’ve been interested in preparedness for decades,” Cobb said. “In the last seven or eight years, there’s been an increase in interest. And in the last few weeks, it’s like I’m the quarterback of the best football team in the world.”
The last thing Cobb wants to do is promote panic, he said, adding that there is no need for people to stuff their shopping carts with toilet paper.
“The more information we give people, the calmer they tend be,” he said, “because now they can make an informed decision rather than fly off the handle with whatever instinct tells them to do.”