Col. Bubbie's now eying Christmas season as their last stand

Meyer Reiswerg, who was known as Col. Bubbie, passed away five years ago. His wife said this week that after 42 years she's ready to close Col. Bubbie's and retire. She's aiming to be closed for good after the Christmas season. less Meyer Reiswerg, who was known as Col. Bubbie, passed away five years ago. His wife said this week that after 42 years she's ready to close Col. Bubbie's and retire. She's aiming to be closed for good ... more Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Col. Bubbie's now eying Christmas season as their last stand 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A few months back it looked like one of Galveston's most popular attractions would be closing for good at the end of the summer, but these days you will still find Colonel Bubbie's Strand Surplus Senter open and selling metric tons of surplus supplies every week to military buffs.

It turns out that they pushed back their closing date until after Christmas instead.

When word leaked that Col. Bubbie's might no longer be a stop on the traditional Galveston day trip, lots of fans of the shop began making the trek to the island to get one last look at the location at 22nd and Strand.

Col. Bubbie's is the longest-running, single-owner business on the Strand. Since 1972, it has sold military refuse — gas masks, camouflauge pants, canteens, mess kits, medals and insignias, you name it — encompassing 60 countries and conflicts from to the Civil War to Iraq.

As store owner Suzie Reiswerg puts it, they never had exact designs on shutting down on Labor Day. They were really just reevaluating the business for the future. Most businesses reevaluate their outlook, but few are public about it. The store's historic value gave talk of a potential closing even more attention. Soon came the TV cameras and reporters.

Col. Bubbie's still has plenty of inventory and customers don't show any signs of tiring of visiting, so they are here to stay until just after Christmas. After that Reiswerg plans on riding off into the sunset for good.

"It's a bittersweet thing for me but I'm just ready," Reiswerg says. She's insisting that this is not a stunt to drive business, as some have said.

In order to clear out some inventory they are having discount deals, buy-one-get-three promotions and the like. She's also working merchandise on the store's eBay site. But Reiswerg says that there will be no reprieves for the shop that she and her late husband Meyer Reiswerg opened 42 years ago. He passed away five years ago.

The shop helped outfit the TV show "MASH" and war films as diverse as "Saving Private Ryan" and "1941" among others. Up until a few months ago they were the go-to spot for local theater productions to get period uniforms but that stock has dwindled.

She owns the building that Col. Bubbie's occupies so there is no real estate pressure to leave, and it's not as if customers are drying up. She's just ready to call it quits. She says a few people have come forward to attempt to take the business on but once they see how much work it takes to run a vintage military surplus store they slowly back away.

The store survived Hurricane Ike in 2008, no small feat considering how bad some of the places nearby took on damage.

"No one mentions how bad that hurricane was to Galveston when they talk about other major hurricanes like Katrina and Sandy," Reiswerg says. "Some people lost their entire stores. Some had 10 feet of water in their stores, but luckily we only had three."

Reiswerg plans on selling the prime property once the store is cleared out. There are already offers for some of the larger trinkets involved, like the large replica machine gun that hangs from the ceiling and a wooden Native American up front. Her late husband's barber chair, his perch for years, is going with her.

Galveston remains home, she says, as that's where her friends are.

"My husband built an amazing business and it touched so many people," she says. "It gets me sort of verklempt when I think of it."

When she's asked if by some miracle she will remain open after Christmas she laughs off our hopefulness.

"There will be no miracles. I'm definitely done by the end of the year," she says.

Hopefully everyone will get to make one last Christmas shopping trip to Galveston before she locks the doors for good. Army helmets make great gifts, as any 8-year-old will tell you.