MP Uniforms and Supplies in Allentown, Pennsylvania

I finally made it, and they were open, and what a blast. When I got there, this very hunky State Trooper was in (with his three young sons) buying boots. No lie. The proprietor was an older woman who looked to be someone's mom who helped out by minding the store on Saturdays. After State Trooper and the boys left, I was pretty much on my own for a while. She asked where I was working, and I said, "I'm not in law enforcement." She smiled and said, "You just like the toys." Oh yeah.

So the place is amazing. Badges, holsters, boots, handcuffs, hats, nightsticks, and uniforms for police, fire, and EMS workers. And (this was an unexpected surprise), bags! They had bags'a'plenty. The prices are just rock bottom.

So what did I buy?

• A tactictal one-piece uniform (not by Propper, as it happens) that is now being laundered, and will soon bear my patches from GMSMA and the the Chicago Hellfire Club;
  
• A 'duty belt,' made of nylon and adjustable with velcro, big and heavy duty, and closes with a very, very satisfying 'click';
  
• A new 'attach-your-key-ring-to-your-belt' thingy;
  
• A really amazing reversible (jet black and flourescent orange) raincoat, big and lightweight, like traffic cops wear when directing traffic
  
• A 'duty bag', lightweight, voluminous, with lots of compartments (*sigh*) that will make for the best toy bag imaginable;
  
• A cellphone holster with a heavy duty belt clip;
  
• An over-the-shoulder bag that I'll be able to use for work and tooling around in the city that does not look like a purse.
  

I will absolutely be back there. The first trip, I was sort of undone by a feeling of vertigo at this storehouse of possibilities. Also, I bought things like the raincoat and the cellphone holster because I had never seen anything quite so well made at such a great price, so I felt I had to get it; treasure hunt shopping in a way. Next time, I'll be able to take my time and be more considered, thinking through the perverted possibilities. And, if I were so inclined to put together a full-scale police uniform, that would be the place to do it. Interestingly, I was just commenting to a friend of mine that if Code Orange persists much longer in NYC, I'm going to develop a major uniform fetish, what with all specimins of masculine polchritude wearing uniforms of police, state troopers, and national guardsmen that are about.

Worse things could happen.