Patrick&Teresa; Romack as New Proprietors of the Army Navy Surplus of Muncie   Now that the Army Navy Surplus of Muncie is under new ownership&operations control of the Romack Family; we would like to thank the Jacobsen Family for having built up such a great business opportunity.   As a Disabled Army Veteran, I was looking for something, that would fit my abilities and allow my family to get involved in a locally owned and operated business.   This acquisition allows for all that; and allows me time to keep volunteering in the VFW Post 651 here in Muncie, where I do Canteen work, and am a Men's Auxiliary member and the Young Marines meet there too.As the Commander of the Young Marines, and Chaplain, of the Marine Corps League (also meeting at the post) I can fulfil several functions at once.   It is a good deal for the Post from a financial support point of view, and for us as and income point of view.  The Post is hoping to pick up more members due to visits to the Surplus.  We hope they do for all our sakes.   The Jacobsen's Randall & Joyce, built the shop up from nothing, from the winter of 1986 through this past winter; when Randall and Joyce had health problems develop that could no long allow them to continue in operation.   A deal has been struck and is being worked out and we have in fact moved all the Military Surplus to the Basement of the VFW Post 651, at 1801 West Kilgore Ave., Muncie, IN. 47304 and you can now reach Me or Teresa,by calling our AT &T Cell Phone at: 1-765-585-0776 (AT &T Cell to Cell is free) and if that is busy?  Call our home at 1-765-286-8366 to arrange for additional hours or to make an appointment.   Our new hours and days are:   Tuesdays & Wednesdays 3:00 to 6:00 P.M.Wednesdays to Saturdays   11:00 to 6:00 P.M.   Closed:  Sundays, Mondays, and Major Holidays.   Cash & Carry:  No Cards/Checks.  There is an ATM in the Canteen Area of the Post; they charge $2.00 and accept Debit, Discover, Master, and Visa Cards for cash.   We now "have bathrooms" access,(Yep, His & Hers), Central Heat and AC, and plenty of nice Blacktopped, lighted parking and better pull in/out then was at the old location.  And the Canteen serves hot food, and cold drinks.   The Jacobsen's are still operating the Sow N Sews portion in the Green Quonset Hut behind their home on a "As Available or by Appointment" basis, so you can still call them at 1-765-747-1934 to check on their sewing status. ...read more

It is now December 2009 and we have survived past Thanksgiving to head into the Christmas Sales and Service times in what is the "Nearly" the worst of our lives in Muncie Indiana as to earnings and number of folks seen in the shop.  Now that may seem like it is contradictory to what many a business wants to post on such blogs and be seen as given we have such decent reviews and such faithful clients who do their best to follow through in reviewing and sharing our fliers at work, associates, and family members. Yet we have so many folks in our greater East Central Indiana communities that are suffering from over indulgence in consumer credit, elimination of over time hours and even more severe cut back in regular hours from 40 to 36 to 32 hrs per week.  All this adds up to significantly reduced incomes across the board; and to make matters worse, many an salaried person still left in many of the organizations are being asked or forced to give up or pay more for many of their benefits received at the time the current recession hit.  Of course this again reduces the available all important "Cash-Flow" that is the life blood of all and any business unless we are talking barter&Trade.; Government by doing what it did in the banking and housing industries without "first" protecting consumers sufficiently did exactly the wrong thing to help spur the national economy.  It is just that the High rollers were "protected" and swallowed immense amount of the stimulus monies spent without it stimulating the real spenders who could insure it was being spend in every other industry around the nation. Small shops/services like we represent did NOT see any of the help talked about or touted; as we depend 100% on God's Grace and Favor being manifested by "People" having what they need and more then enough they can spend with shops and on services like our own.  The end result is the banks swallowed up the bail out funds and are hording them in their effort to find a safe haven to invest or release "some" of it in to help turn a dividend for their investors.  That is other then in savings by turning off every other light bulb or laying off or cutting positions. If consumers are able to, or need to, we are really happy that they choose us based on our customer service, 97% fill rate, and service(s) abilities to meet their various needs. Now, we have made very serious efforts to make our area of town and shops and grounds more community friendly, and pleasant to stop by visit, shop, or have service work done.  We have positioned ourselves be competitive and unique enough to make us worth the effort to choose us to get things from or done and are getting very very positive feed back from those who have come by recently. What remains is folks stopping by who can afford to spend money or do barter and trade in such a way that we can move forward and survive yet another recession in less then ten years apart.  Technical or otherwise, if it results in the same feelings of helplessness or hurst just as bad as a "officially" declared recession from any level of government you may care to consider, it has just as real an impact and with so many saying one thing positive and with so many not "feeling" the positive things others are talking about, it is really is not any help unless the "Stimulus Money" is able to stimulate down low enough to the majority of working poor folks to be of real benefit. At this point in time we are seeing a "repeat of 2008" in terms of achieving only .15 cents out of every dollar from years past.  so if 1-3% is growth?  Then we are still here and still struggling to be here through the new year.  But is just my opinion, but the Government has to do something different to reach lower down the stimulus chain and achieve better results at helping the working poor and lower middle class.  At this moment in time, I don't see how they are going to achieve that without doing some form of "Nationalization"  of many a private sector to insure the ravaging wolves of un-bridled commercialism don't plunder the average American. ...read more

Other of us business owners who participated in the recent survey will attest that it (the survey) is only an opinion of what we believe we are experiencing in our locals and may not be representative of all the business in the area, or similar business in our own industry. Fact is there are still a lot of business still using credit as if the crash didn't happen, or the recession isn't dragging on.  Point in fact we are doing a lot to improve our "position" in our local market place, but that does not mean we are going into hock to do it; as we operate on a "Cash Flow" position, and then by arrangement or agreement between parties doing whatever work is being accomplished around our homestead/business. Another fact that is NOT clear is just how much "discounting" is taking place to draw or bring shoppers or clients in? and for ourselves I must admit it is drastic.  I could only "Wish" for break even at the end of this last quarter of the year.  I have been doing business over forty years and never have seen it this bad. To get where we are today, has taken a lot of patience on the part of those who are working with us in any way, shape or form; but we are thankful they are workng with us and not against us.  Though some like banking and several merchants are trying to act or conduct business as usual and are going through the motions to make it hard or stressful on everyone who is in anyway still doing business with them. I had one company try and tell us we could not cancel their lease after it had expired, and we decided not to continue taking credit cards.  Just for the record?  there is no such thing as a automatic renewing lease that has any basis of validity in a court in the State of Indiana.  If a company based in any other state wants to do business in the state of Indiana, it becomes subject to our laws and regulation for doing or offering business in this state.  The state of Indiana allows leases to expire and if renewed the company and lessee must sign a "new" contract.  So if you are going through a tough time in Indiana and some slick company tries to lay that one on you? fight it. People, Families and Proprietorship's', must have the latitude to be free to do what they need to do to survive any form of economic woes, and to do that it is important to not engage in contractual legal agreements unless you simply and directly need to enter into one.  It is far better to keep your business on a simply cash basis if you can and settle for less customers, and less hassles then indulging in credit might seem worth trying. When we used credit card processing, they represented well over three quarters of our monthly income, and yes we gave them up to go on a straight cash basis.  We of course use a debit card to process our orders but it is a liberating thing to know that it is money in the bank and we are strict about our ordering and keeping things within our means. We have let a lot of orders go that insisted on 2% 10 days, net 30 days ROG, and wanted to use purchase orders, but then took the discount contrary to law and code and still took/take 90 days or more to pay.  I don't miss that kind of business, and I don't recommend anyone conduct business that way or do business with any agency, institution, or person that does. I am not saying we are squeaky clean; we do have our days, weeks and months trying to make things work as agreed.  But that is what a late fee and interest is for, and it is important to not to over-promise if pressed for a promise to make a payment...be realistic when forecasting what you can do and then pay on time or expect to suffer the consequences and pay additional monies out for being wrong. So in this post? I am recommending you don't go into credit or accept credit cards, but go on a cash and carry basis.. ...read more