Heritage Surplus · NYC Since 1956
Army & Navy Bags
A 69-year-old NYC surplus shop featured in The New York Times and Humans of New York — with no meaningful web presence. We built a site that captures the chaos and charm of browsing the shop in person.
Established
1956
In Business
69 yrs
Featured In
NYT
Heritage Surplus · NYC Since 1956
Army & Navy Bags
Stack
HTML · CSS · JS
Launch
Private preview
The Problem
What needed to change.
Army & Navy Bags has been a Greenwich Village institution since 1956. Featured by The New York Times and Humans of New York. But for 69 years, the shop had no real web presence — and inventory that changes daily with no product database to draw from.
1956
Established
0 yrs
In Business
NYT
Featured In
0
Previous Web Presence
The Transformation
From where they were to where they are.
The Decisions
Why we built it this way.
Every website is a series of choices. Here are the ones that mattered most.
Tactical Canvas
The Journey
From first call to launch.
From Zero to Architecture
Visited the shop, photographed inventory, interviewed the owner. The site needed to capture the serendipity of browsing — not impose catalog structure on chaos.
Tactical Canvas Palette
Military olive, brass hardware, surplus canvas — the palette is the product. Every color was pulled from the actual merchandise.
Finds Shuffle + JSON Content
Built the randomizing gallery, content.json architecture, and 16 iterative versions before landing on the final experience.
98/100 Lighthouse
Highest score in the portfolio. Zero framework overhead means a 69-year-old shop loads faster than most Fortune 500 sites.
What We Built
Features that actually matter.
No feature bloat. Every element earns its place by solving a real problem for the business.
Finds Shuffle Gallery
Product photos randomize on every visit — mirrors the unpredictable in-store experience.
content.json Architecture
All copy in a single JSON file. Owner can update without touching HTML.
Heritage Storytelling
NYT and HONY features woven into the narrative without feeling like a press page.
llms.txt for AI Discovery
Forward-looking SEO standard for LLM crawlers — ahead of the curve for any business.
Tactical Canvas Palette
Every color pulled from actual merchandise. The palette IS the product.
16 Iterative Versions
From v1 to v16, each version refined based on real feedback and testing.
The Results
Numbers that hold up.
0
Lighthouse Score
0 yrs
Heritage
0
Total Pages
0
Versions Built
0
Dependencies
0
SEO Score
“People come in now and say they saw us online first. After 69 years of being walk-in only, that's something new.”
— Army & Navy Bags
Want this level of craft for your business?
No templates. No page builders. Just a website built specifically for your business, your audience, and your goals.