Shoulder To Shoulder Militaria & Collectibles

The reviewers so far have been doing so mostly out of ignorance of the wares being offered for sale. By way of background, I’ve published a couple of books on the subject of Canadian military uniforms and insignia and host a website devoted to the study of the Canadian military in the 20^th century that has been online since 1999 and received international attention. That and a five-​dollar bill will get me a hot cup of tea at Tim Horton’s, so I digress.
Admittedly, few shops cater to militaria today; perhaps the best shops I’ve dealt with have been Mil-​Arm in Edmonton or Marway in Winnipeg. I used to work in a local Calgary militaria store for a couple of summers, so I do have some direct, relevant experience, and do not have axes to grind since I have not been employed by that company for over a decade, almost two.
By comparison, Shoulder-​to-​Shoulder is cramped, «feels» dirty, even if it is not, and does not seem to have any kind of rhyme or reason to the layout. There seems to be two main points of emphasis in the wares; science fiction toy collectibles (of which there really isn’t a lot to be found, and the buyer will encounter better examples on ebay), and militaria of mostly Canadian origin with a few odds and scraps of modern U.S., Bundeswehr, and a handful of older items on display. If I had to guess, based on my own experience, I’d say some of the more interesting items were probably on consignment from local collectors. During my most recent visit, there was a Wehrmacht Heer AFV crew jacket (the black ‘panzer wrapper’) complete with insignia, and some exotic looking British service dress.
The other reviewers have overstated the inventory on hand; there was a lot of average looking «military surplus» mixed onto the racks. The bulk of the militaria was «King’s Crown» era cap badges, collar badges and buttons, but the prices offered no bargains from what I could see — a Tudor Crown Calgary Highlanders cap badge in bronze was selling for $ 40.00, pretty much the list price according to any current price guide, and you can still do better than that, including shipping, on ebay. The worst of it is that there was no organizational scheme to the badges and buttons. It may be fun to browse on a day off work, but the serious collector would only be frustrated trying to match the inventory to his list of needs and wants.
The worst part of the experience was listening to the right-​wing rants of the proprietor. On my latest visit, he was embroiled in a conversation with either a customer or a visitor. The proprietor was one of those fellows who makes militaria collectors all look like right-​wing nutcases. In less than ten minutes, he railed about how speed limits were an infringement on his freedom, praised the United States for overthrowing the British monarchy (in 1776 no less), bragged about a speeding ticket he had received, criticized emergency services workers for helping collision victims on roadways (his word for them was a**h****s), and even when I identified myself as an employee of Emergency Medical Services, his political diatribes lost none of their bitterness or venom towards anything connected with government or any branch of organized society. When I decided the smartest thing to do was to leave without engaging any further, I was told to go back to my prison — meaning, life in modern Canada, something the proprietor apparently is unhappy with.
You may be able to find something here that isn’t on ebay or at one of the larger, cleaner militaria or auction houses — I doubt it, frankly — but if you do, spare yourself some agony and don’t talk politics to the owner unless you share his anarchist views.

Wow, transported back in time!
We were in Inglewood taking a walk and came across this inviting shop with the door propped open. The owner was tinkering with his treasures that he obviously cared for so much.
We found out through conversation that the owner was born in Ottawa, like me!
I do not have a bad thing to say about this place. The Woody Woodpecker lunchbox in the front window had drawn me in further and further and you have to loop this store about 6 times to see everything! WOW, it is packed but not cluttered.
They had my collectible faves, Peyo rubber Smufs from back in the day!
Comic books from the 15 cent days, Archie books (I think I read them ALL when I was 12) police patches, old pink finger dial phones, pins of all kinds, jewellery, weebles, Nascar oldies, little army men and lots of postcards from the 50’s. There is a box at the front of the store where everything in there is $ 1!
This started out as a Military store and then to stay in business, it had to expand to other things collectible. Rent is not cheap in Inglewood of course so I wish this nice man all the best in being able to stay open. We were in there for a good 45 minutes and no one had ventured in the whole time we were there despite beautiful weather for a walk.
The owner gets his items from people that bring them into him, he buys them and prices them the way he wants to, not based on the internet. Interesting.
I was so tempted to buy something but it would just go in the basement into a box with this rest of the items from my past.
I will keep checking this place out though and spreading the word about how cool this establishment is for that collector looking for the perfect find.
The place left dust all over my fingers that just added charm to this store. The smell is the comics brought me back to a happy place, a happy time.
The prices were terrific as well. My husband mentioned Storage Wars to the owner, I am not sure what they were talking about but the owner is old school and implied that that show was crap. HA! Gotta love it!
5 stars!

Shoulder to Shoulder is a store in Inglewood that deals in antiques, collectibles, and Militaria. I don’t know if any of you like Stephen King, but from the outside, there’s a distinct «Needful Things» vibe to this place. Inside, fortunately, it’s not nearly as foreboding.
They have a varied selection of old fashioned tin lunchboxes and an abundance of nostalgic toys and trinkets.
The speciality of Shoulder to Shoulder, however, is in the Military collectibles realm. It it’s related to bygone wars, then you’re likely to find it here. The spoils of war, as it were.

Shoulder to Shoulder is a buy, sell and trade shop that specializes in toys, antiques, pins, badges and militaria collectibles.
Whether you’re looking for a rare pin or some old-​skool collectible figurine, chances are Shoulder To Shoulder will have it somewhere on its shelves.
It’s absolutely overwhelming when you first walk in because there is ‘stuff’ EVERYWHERE! 1988 Olympic pins, flags, Disney toys and the list goes on and on. They are known around town for having the best selection of vintage military collectibles and it’s quite fascinating to see all the things that people have spent their lives collecting.
I guess it really is true what they say: «One person’s junk is another person’s treasure».

The Shoulder to Shoulder shop is exactly what it is; shoulder to shoulder military and collectable paraphernalia. It is like walking into a long museum like walk-​in closet and wonder when you will finally hit Narnia.
It is quite a surprisingly fun crook and cranny to discover on Inglewood’s 9^th avenue strip, but it really is a sociological tour de force to be reckoned with.
You can find original military outfits from regiments from all around the world, Nazi collectibles, pins, patches, toy trains, antique toys, soda pop bottles, dialling phones and well just about everything.
The man working there was so eager to tell me about the history of each item, and this is so commendable but it soon felt that I would soon be an artefact in his store if I hadn’t politely interrupted his explanations.
What I noticed however were the reasonable prices; could this be every eBay seller’s wet dream? And how can a store like this be so clean and organised?
Definitely a must for any of you Star Wars fetishers out there, it’s best to just come and rub shoulders with it and check it out for yourself.

Collectors of just about anything will find Shoulder to Shoulder heaven. Especially old war collectors. These guys have old WW1 uniforms and guns, pins, daggers, everything. They even have an old Nazi uniform for a smaller man…
The collection of vintage dinkies is unmatched. They have old licence plates, old records and even old toy soldiers and trains. I personally enjoyed their old Star Wars action figures and machines (some of them still in original packaging). But the GI Joes is where they really got me. They have a small but decent selection of the 80s version of the men; guys like Destro and Darklin and Cobra Commander among others.
«If it’s anything old and obsolete, we have it,» one of the guys told me.
He was surprised at the popularity of the Nazi memorabilia they had. There could be any number of explanations for that, I wouldn’t want to speculate here. But I will say these guys have a hell of a collection. They offer pins and other items, and even have this strange black pocket book that dates from the 40s titled The Nazi War on the Catholic Church. Lots of interesting old artifacts here.
If you like rare, hard to find historical items (especially military stuff) you have to check this place out.