Ask Jerome Oxman about recent renovations to his store, and he gets giddy. This might not be unusual for a young entrepreneur with expansionary dreams, but the founder of Oxman’s Surplus is still knocking down walls – at 96.

Oxman has been selling military surplus items bought at government auctions out of his Santa Fe Springs storefront for more than 50 years. Last year, he and his wife, Miriam, 89, decided to undertake a major renovation, including installing a 2,000-square-foot museum and café.

Visitors now enter the store through the museum, which has thousands of collectible items on display, from machine guns to ejection seats. Oxman declined to say how much was spent but said it was “very expensive” and “a little scary” given the economy.

“All my dreams have come true with this renovation. I cannot wait to get to the store. We saw it as an investment in our sons’ future,” said Oxman, whose boys, Murray, 62, and Jason, 49, have taken over the day-to-day operations.

A World War II veteran, Oxman worked at a military surplus company after the war before starting up his own mail-order business in an auto service center garage in 1961. The mail-order items got so much attention from passers-by that he opened the doors to the public and before long Oxman’s Surplus was born.

Over the years, the store has sold everything from bomb sights to hydraulic systems that customers used to outfit low rider cars. Today it is well stocked with military clothing, camping supplies and other traditional Army-Navy store gear. Oxman and his wife still come in nearly every day starting around lunch time. One can find him greeting customers, telling stories and still ringing up sales.

“He’s fine. He’s slow, but he doesn’t need anything to get around other than a little cane sometimes,” said son Jason. “He oversees what we’re buying, checks with us to make sure we’re keeping caps on spending and not overdoing it.”