A unique Richland store specializing in military surplus equipment and law enforcement uniforms recently received state certification as a Women Business Enterprise.
Kendra and Marques Harrer bought The Bunker in 2019 with the goal of serving the community.
The store at 225 Wellsian Way had been around since about 2012. It was originally smaller and operated as a military surplus sales store.
Since buying the store, the Harrers have expanded its offerings, selling uniforms, duty gear and equipment to local law enforcement agencies and fire departments.
‘My baby’
Kendra Harrer was a stay-at-home mom before becoming The Bunker’s CEO and chief operating officer.
“We knew we wanted to do something to help our community,” she said. “That’s really how it all started … And then when we saw The Bunker listed for sale, we both were like, ‘Yep, this is it.’”
Within two weeks of seeing The Bunker listed, the couple bought the store. “We didn’t really second guess it,” she said.
Although both Kendra and Marques Harrer own the store, “for the most part, it’s my baby,” Kendra Harrer said. Marques Harrer is the chief financial officer, but he works a day job helping manufacturers solve problems.
“We have three kids, so it’s like my fourth child,” she said.
She does a bit of everything around the store.
Two years ago, she launched a second store in Spokane and drives to Spokane once a week to help.
Prior to this year, she managed both the Spokane and Richland stores. This year, she hired managers at both stores. There are seven full-time and three part-time employees across the two stores.
Kendra Harrer spends most of her time working with customers such as first responders and tactical professionals, training her team, and helping to set The Bunker’s culture, she said.
State certification
One of the requirements to be certified as a Women Business Enterprise is that the owner must “control the managerial and day-to-day operations,” according to the Washington State Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises. The Bunker received its certification in February of this year.
The owner also must be a minority or a woman, own at least 51% of the business and show contribution of capital and expertise, and be economically disadvantaged. There are additional qualifications pertaining to business size and capabilities.
Currently, 42 businesses across Benton and Franklin counties have a Women Business Enterprise or Minority/Women Business Enterprise certification.
Kendra Harrer said they’d been thinking about the certification for a while “because from the beginning … this has kind of been my thing.”
The process to get certification was lengthy, she said, but having it might make it easier to do business with various agencies.
“Let’s see if it opens any doors,” she said.
Kendra Harrer started running The Bunker to help the community, she says. The store sells tactical gear, military surplus and uniforms.
| Photo by Rachel VisickUniforms and supplies
The Spokane store focuses exclusively on law enforcement, fire and security uniforms. The uniforms play an important part at the Richland store as well, but about 50% is still tactical gear and military surplus, Kendra Harrer said.
On the community side, “we have a lot of less lethal self-defense options … we have tactical gear, like protection, and then military surplus,” Kendra Harrer said. She said the store doesn’t sell firearms or anything lethal. “We don’t even touch that realm,” she said.
Instead, the gear might include pepper spray or plate carriers, a type of protective vest, she said.
Kendra Harrer said that in addition to selling law enforcement and fire department uniforms, “we also do all of the alterations they need done to the uniforms.”
The Bunker does embroidery, vinyl printing and laser engraving on lanyards, name tags and other items.
“We saw a need for uniforms in our area,” she said. “…We got into the business to serve, and so we were like, it just kind of made sense. We’re going to serve the people that serve our community.”
Community focus
From uniforms to medical supplies, Kendra Harrer has had a focus on helping the community.
“I get to run this business, and I also get to serve the people in this community. And I just love it,” she said. “I love our community. I love our law enforcement, our firefighters and just our community, our people that come in, our veterans.”
When Hanford restricted knives to under two-and-a-half inches, Harrer responded by bringing in an array of smaller knives.
“We try to listen to what our community needs and we try to bring in new stuff all the time based on what people are asking for and what people want to see,” she said.
In response to customer feedback, the store also stocks Bug-A-Salt, a plastic gun loaded with salt intended to shoot flies.
The Bunker also sells medical supplies, including trauma gauze and tourniquets. It’s been a different side of the business from the store’s initial focus on surplus items and tactical gear, Harrer said.
“When Covid hit about nine months into our first year, we had a large increase in demand for medical supplies, which then turned into us being a leading local supplier of trauma kits,” she said.
She said she wouldn’t trade her job for anything.
“I love my job. My dream was always to be a stay-at-home mom, and then I got into this role, and I love them both so, so much,” she said.
The Bunker: 225 Wellsian Way, Richland, thebunkertactical.com, 509-943-0269.