Champaign Surplus Store Inc - (217) 356-4703

Last week we came in to the Champaign Surplus store in Champaign about an hour before their closing time. The store was rather empty, and we came in and looked for apparel when we noticed some of the female workers there were following a black man around the store. We were shocked and insulted as we witnessed a few of them pretending like they were going on with their work, or trying to be helpful, when they were clearly keeping an eye on him and giving him special treatment when he was just shopping. We left the store and additionally found out that their products are very overpriced--for example, long underwear they sell for $45 at their store can be bought at amazon as low as $25. Forget it. don't bother driving there. They are rude and have no respect for customers. We have nothing positive to say after what we saw.

I visited this store few days ago and was so surprised about the selection they had. It is a big store for sporting goods. They have a lot of famous brand. The price is fair. But annually they will have a big sale for winter. You can get Columbus, etc brand coat for more than 50% off which is awesome. But sure you need to shop earlier in order to get most of the selections.

Champaign surplus is an army surplus store + outdoor clothing/camping goods store. In the front they have tons of warm winter apparal including hiking gear, ski gear, and camping equipment. In the back they have their army section with all kinds of camo army clothing and army medals and supplies (real army messenger bags) I tried some of the army stuff on and wasn't that impressed, it was cheap but the name brand stuff up front I thought was nicer. They also have a large selection of boots, including some huge steel toe army boots. I picked out some gloves and a hat here from a huge selection up front and I still use them years later. The store is in downtown champaign and they have a parking lot so parking is never a problem. PROS: really impressive selection CONS: far from UIUC campus