Langer's Army & Navy Store opens at Black Country museum

The much-loved store, which was located in Enville Street for many years, closed its doors some years back but it has now been brought back to life at the living history museum in Tipton Road, Dudley, which shares stories through living interpretation and immersive experiences.

Located in the museum’s popular new 1940s-50s development, visitors can try on replica military wear in the store.

They will also be able to meet the new costumed character actors at the museum tasked with playing the old Army & Navy Store’s founder Herbert Langer, a former German Prisoner of War who set up a military surplus store in Stourbridge in the 1950s after settling in the Black Country.

A selection of mess tins and tilley lamps hung from the ceiling of Langer's Army & Navy Stores (Image: Black Country Living Museum)

Herbert’s family, including his son Steve Langer, have been instrumental in ensuring the museum – and the staff members portraying Herbert – are doing him proud.

Steve said: “My dad would have been so emotional and overwhelmed that someone thought that much of him to do something like this and recreate something that was his life and that he loved…It feels like my dad’s shop. It feels like coming home.”

The military surplus store is one of three brand new shops recreated as part of the open-air museum’s flourishing new 1940s-50s Forging Ahead development which is now almost complete.

Halesowen and Hasbury Co-op and Spring Hill Post Office have also been brought back to life.

A historic character portrays 'George', a shop assistant at Halesowen and Hasbury Co-op (Image: Black Country Living Museum)

Langer’s Army & Navy Stores and Spring Hill Post Office have already opened but Halesowen and Hasbury Co-op is due to open on July 4, in time for International Day of Co-operatives on Saturday July 6.

The shop, set in 1949, is packed full of reproduced packaging sporting Co-op’s iconic branding, including ‘nourishing, appetising and easily digested’ cornflakes and ‘puppy biscuits’ suitable for all breeds that are ‘invaluable as a staple diet for the small dog’.

Carol King, director of content, said: “Step into our 1940s-1960s high street and you’re not just visiting history – you’re living it. From the shelves of the Co-op to the counter of the post office, every detail tells a story of resilience, innovation and community spirit that defined the Black Country.

“This isn’t just about preserving the past; it’s about bringing it to life for new generations to experience and understand.”