Belmont Army Surplus

cool stuff!!! really awesome flight jackets and army surplus! and by far the coolest leather jackets!

The Wicker Park branch of Belmont Army is smaller than its sister in Lakeview, yet it is still sizable. It is made up of two floors with two different styles of clothing. The first sells men’s and women’s modern shoes and streetwear (think Obey). The basement sells army surplus clothing, like jackets, boots, rucksacks, etc.
The concept of mixing two totally different stores is a bit confusing, but their separation between floors makes it easy to manage. Perhaps you’ll come in specifically for one floor, and find something cool and unexpected on the other! My gripe is that the staff here is neither super friendly nor super helpful, but not enough that it would drive me away.

Fairly expensive and the skate shop staff are either confused or not well informed on their selection. Don’t go for the skate shop.

Hello, I realize you are no longer affiliated
with the other Army Surplus on Belmont, but
I used to shop at that sister store when i was 14 and had NO
MONEY! Flash forward, I am 37 now and have a few
bucks to spend.
I bring my kids (2^nd Gen Army Fans!!) and hubby to the stores up
on Milwaukee to spend a few hard earned dollares every so
often!(:
I wanted to point out how WONDERFUL Patrick was when
we came in to shop as a family yesterday 6÷22÷2014!
He was a nice kid, and willing to help my son out with a jacket
he had been saving up to purchase a nice black jacket
(Straight to HELL leather) he had his eyes on for weeks.
I live in Valpo Indiana now (born and raised in Pilsen) and drive
up every so often to shop with the kids and hubby.
Someone like Patrick, and his excellent customer
service makes it worthwhile to drive all the way up
from Indy to Wicker Park to shop!!!
He is a WONDERFUL asset to your store, and
is excellent at taking care of people!!!
He made us feel warm, and welcomed and went
out of his way to show us options etc etc. He
knows how to take care of a customer!
Please make sure you take care of this young man!
He is a wonderful worker, and makes me want to spend
$ in your awesome store both as a fairly hip
older lady (LOL) and as a mom shopping for her family!
Good day to you!
Your faithful customer…

Cool place to shop. I especially like the shoes selection — they had a good sale on shoes (30% off) when I went and the staff are all friendly and helpful. One of my favorite places to shop in Wicker.

I used to really like this store, until last week.
My husband and I went to look at their clothing and this guy who worked there literally made us super uncomfortable following us around the whole time like we were going to steal somethingWe ended up leaving feeling really insulted.
No thanks.

Magasin de vêtements branché. Chacun, selon son style ou ses goûts peut trouver de véritables perles. Du bonnet aux chaussures, un choix important aussi bien pour femmes que pour hommes pour une sélection d’articles très casual chic et branchée.

Hip army surplus in the basement. It had what I needed, so I’m happy. There’s a unique selection there with decent prices. Although I heard that the Uptown surplus might be a little cheaper. The staff were attentive and courteous. Will come back!

Confused. That’s how I felt in this store. Before this visit, the last time that I was in an army surplus store was many moons before when I was a teenager. I expected things like mess kits and giant camouflage duffle bags and things of the sort. We walked in, circled around (in our confused state) and wandered out. Vans shoes? Some random clothes that certainly weren’t screaming Army to me and a bunch of other random things. I’m sure it’s a fine store if you are looking for what they’re selling, but my expectations were one thing and they delivered another.

I just bought the prettiest dress from here a couple of weeks ago. It was marked down & final sale (not sure if all sale items are final sale) I was surprised from the name of the store that they’d have things other than army clothes, but they do on the top level. Downstairs is where all of the army centered things are.
The staff was nice, but not very outgoing/​welcoming. They were busy stocking things though, so maybe that’s why they didn’t pay much attention to us. That’s almost better to me though — rather have that than the workers following you around asking every 15 seconds if you need help with anything ha.
Will definitely go back.

An army store for the hip population!
The upper floor is stocked with Fred Perry, Ben Sherman and Obey attire. There are shoulder bags, trendy shoes and various sundries to sort though. The downstairs section is all surplus, but of a certain type. It’s mostly geared toward looking cool.
It’s a neat store to check out and you might find something to tickle your fancy. Or you may wish you were at the other location on Belmont which is much bigger.

Got a call last week from Adam. They got in a new shipment of UNIF clothing so he totally called to tell me. 5 stars for customer service that is above and beyond. Thanks Adam!

Nice selection of shoes. Good selection of men’s clothing. Prices are pretty steep. I wish they had a better selection of marked down items, but I guess there is a reason they are getting marked down to begin with.
I didn’t receive any attitude from anyone, but I also didn’t get the warm welcome treatment.

These guys were very helpful, had a large supply of very cool things that kept me in the store for at least an hour and not only were they helpful but cool to talk to. I was buying a knife… what? its chicago!!! anyways, i was buying a knife and was stuck between 2 different ones and the guys there helped me make the best choice. People expect too much from a surplus store… buncha whiny sissies… Anyways they did right by me and i will definitely go here again!!!

Poor, poor staff. It must be hard to be chained up to the register. They can barely muster a hello when you walk in and the chains just aren’t long enough for them to go onto the sales floor or by the shoes to see if you want to try them on. Sometimes there are 2 and 3 of them chained behind the counter at one time and still not even 1 can get free! It’s really sad. Other people must have picked up on the sadness because I am always the only customer in the store.
I guess I will just have to keep looking at theses shoes, picking up a pair, staring at an employee and continue to be thoroughly ignored. They must be plotting on how to escape otherwise they would surely show the tiniest bit of interest in doing their job. Right?

I’ve been wearing military surplus stuff for a long time. It fits me well (I don’t know what that says about me), it wears like iron, and it’s usually cheap as far as clothes go. Apparently, I have defied trends so much they’ve come back to smack me in the face; surplus stuff and combat boots were ‘cool’ when I was in high school (go 90s!), fell out of flavor, and from the looks of the kids round 6 corners and logan square, it’s becoming the rage, again.
This place? Depends on what you’re looking for.
If you’re after a ‘look’ that is a one part military functionality, and four parts hipster weinerboat captain, this is the place for you. If you’re looking for actual military surplus, this place is a srs MEH.
The upstairs is your typical Wicker Park boutique sorta place, clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. Downstairs they have some military surplus, yeah, but it’s the most surface level items (pea coat, bdu pants, a few backpacks, some boonie hats), and it’s pretty overpriced. They don’t have much in the way of current issue stuff, it seems they’re trying pretty hard for the ‘vintage military’ angle. It’s also painfully obvious the place isn’t run by ex-​military/​surplus people. …Maybe I’m alone in this, but if I’m in a military surplus store, I shouldn’t hear The Smiths (I like The Smiths, for the record). Nor should I see skinny jeans wearing kids eating vegan burritos (I don’t like vegan burritos, however). I want to hear discussion of the second amendment, god dammit, and talk about how the government just won’t leave people alone.
They do have some cool clothes upstairs, they do. But, if you’re looking for a pair of Propper BDU pants to go with your new combat boots that will never see combat or even a dusty trail, this place will sort you. If you actually want some military surplus stuff, go elsewhere.

Belmont Army is a hip grungey oasis for those first moving to the City! I mean, who doesn’t remember being fascinated by the Army chic of the original Belmont Army? I was actually surprised to see this location on Milwaukee on a recent walk. This location of the Army is not that exciting.
You have your green fatigues, P-​Coats, shabby chic– maybe it’s just not that exciting anymore because even Kohl’s is rocking the same fashions now, or maybe I’ve just grown out of wanting to dress like Pete Wentz (sans eyeliner).
What I did like about Belmont Army is the cheap accesories, and bric a brac like wind up robots, which make great stocking stuffers. I can’t dis on the Army (see that, I just used 90’s slang, from when the Army was super cool), because I still like it when kids get excited to rock the Docs and flannel; but this oasis is just a mirage to me now.

I bought a pair of shoes here not too long ago, and after wearing hem to and from work (i would change shoes at work), the shoes started to fall apart. So i took them back in, without my receipt, and asked if they would take them back, or give me a store credit. The shoes cost $ 60, so they weren’t that expensive, but they were really coming apart and looked horrible. The store’s response was that said i had worn them for a couple weeks that they couldn’t/wouldn’t do anything. They suggested i contact the shoe company directly. This was sorely disappointing. OIt shouldn’t be my job to contact the company. They were the ones selling the shoes, so they should have stood behind them. It wasn’t like had them for several months. In any case, i will never buy anything from them again. If they won’t stand behind the stuff they sell, then i won’t be a customer.
I did end up contacting the company, and after a few emails, and some pictures that i sent them, they sent me a free pair of shoes. I will buy from that company again. I just won’t be going through Belmont Army Surplus.

Hi Guys!
Great store with fun apparel for a good price. Wonderful owner and a gracious staff. Support them as they support artists in the city. Check out the vintage section too!!! Also they sell TOMS shoes there which is an awesome company.

This place was a huge letdown. I walked into the store and was the only person there with three sales people. I had to stare one down and say «Hello» in the cheeriest way possible to even illicit a halfhearted acknowledgment of my presence.
After shopping through the racks of overpriced clothing, I found a few things to try on, just for kicks. Only then did anyone offer me assistance. One of the sales guys asked if I’d like a dressing room. Yeah, gee, that’d be good.
I looked through some more stuff, picked up a few more things, and went to find the sales guy. He was behind the counter messing with the computer, but he had left the dressing room door open for me. How sweet.
The dressing room carpet was disgusting. It clearly hadn’t been vacuumed in MONTHS. Totally gross. So in between keeping my shoes on, trying on clothes, and listening to the sales guy skip songs that he didn’t like that were playing through the whole store, I found one piece I really liked.
I decided that if he was nice when I went to buy it, I’d get it; if he was a jerk, I’d tell him to forget it and leave.
The dude was nice. So what I don’t understand is — what’s he getting paid to do? Customize his Pandora station and open dressing room doors? They must not make commission on sales — cause no one in that place wanted me to buy a thing.
I did anyway, cause I’m a sucker and I really liked that top — even if it was $ 40 too expensive.

Wow… Incredible…the perfect mix of vintage/​retro/​army surplus/​and new fashion. We were both blown away by this place. The prices are about $ 5 – 10 more than what you expect to pay for items, but the merchandise here is amazing. I found the same pair of converse here that the lead singer for American Bang was wearing at Lollapalooza. There are some great vintage tees in the basement, but you may have a hard time finding the right size. My friend bought a lot of neat dresses and shirts here and we left with a few bags.
We both agree that this was the best place to shop in Wicker Park.