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Army Navy Outdoors at 127 Monument Road in Jacksonville, Florida is an army/navy store with its own slant.

“We depart from the traditional army/navy store in multiple ways,” said owner Peter Litsky. “We are more an army/navy department store.”

Although he sells authentic surplus, mainly field gear, he does not consider his store a surplus store.

“The store is very modern,” Litsky said. “We take a merchandising approach that the customer would expect in a mall store, but we still make the store comfortable for traditional army/navy store customers.
Litsky divides his store into several departments, including footwear, tactical, paintball, camping and a new sewing and embroidery department. But departmentalization is only part of what makes the store different.

He displays merchandise on modern fixtures and apparel is neatly arranged by size. His shoe wall is a stainless steel structure and an abundance of wrought iron, modern fixtures give the store the look of a PX. Customers try on clothing in full sized, finished dressing rooms with doors instead of curtains.

“We try to keep things very fresh. Everything is clean and dusted,” Litsky said, noting that every five years he undertakes a major project. In August, the entire store was painted and its color scheme changed.
In 2012, Litsky will celebrate his 20th year in Jacksonville. He began in the army/navy store business while in college working at stores owned by his stepfather, Sam Zackowitz. Zackowitz owns three Florida army/navy stores in North Lauderdale, Davie and West Palm Beach.

Litsky’s roots in retail run deep. In addition to his stepfather’s influence, his mother owned several drug stores.

In 1990, Litsky opened a 1,000 square foot army/navy store in a south Florida mall that had been converted to a flea market, but which also had storefronts. After about a year, he decided to move to a larger location.

“The store did what a flea market business could be expected to do, but I wanted to expand,” he said.