There are signs outside of Col. Bubbie's Surplus Center that read "Going Out of Business." Inside, there is a long line of long-time and first-time supporters who are snatching up what they can before the store closes for good at the end of summer. An exact closing date has not been announced.
"Some people have actually gotten kind of mad. 'You can't leave. What am I going to do,'" said store owner and widow Suzie Reiswerg.
Reiswerg said the decision was a difficult one. She said after her husband, Col. Bubbie died five years ago, she took over and kept the store a float. But Reiswerg said it's time for her to retire.
"It's time for me to do something else, before I die," said Reiswerg who owns the business and the historic building on Galveston's famous Strand.
"I feel really bad for her. She had to let him go, and now she's having to let all of this go also. It's like maintaining that part of the person, but now even that part will be history," said visitor Laura Hall.