Retail

Who will sell Confederate flags now?

Major retailers are pulling Confederate flags off their websites, but smaller stores say they will meet the demand.

In the wake of the shooting deaths of nine worshippers at a historically African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, Wal-Mart, Sears, eBay, Target, Amazon and Etsy.com announced plans to drop Confederate products.

Consumers are turning to smaller retailers to stock up.

Dewey Barber, who owns the clothing store Dixie Outfitters in Odum, Georgia, said he is going to get into the market for selling the Confederate flag as a response to the major retailers' actions.

Barber said his clothing sales saw a 500 percent spike just on Wednesday. With fewer suppliers and a high demand, Barber expects the price of Confederate items to rise.

Rebelstore.com,an online store that usually gets 20 orders for Confederate flags in 24 hours, said it received 3,000 in one day.

Read MoreTarget, Amazon pull Confederate goods from websites

Retailers that sell only U.S.-made flags will have trouble finding Confederate banners to offer.

After the major retailers announced their bans, several manufacturers said they would no longer make Confederate flags.

The Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina.
Getty Images

Alana Dale, owner of flags.com, said she will be unable to offer Confederate banners, not because of political opinions, but because her manufacturers have stopped making them.

Dale buys her flags from Annin Flagmakers, Flag Zone, Eder Flag, and Valley Forge, which she said have all stopped producing them.

"We have been using them since we opened our doors in 1990," she said. "They're really the only choices. Our customers would prefer that we continue sales, but since they are unavailable to us from a U.S. manufacturer, our hands are tied on that."

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Barber said the lack of U.S. manufacturers won't stop him from selling the flag.

"We are looking now for manufacturers of blank flags, and we'll do our own printing here," Barber said.

Tom French, owner of USAmericana, a memorabilia store that sells Civil War-era Confederate items, said he doesn't see flag production shrinking.

"I can't foresee any restrictions on the making of a Confederate flag," he said. "If Wal-Mart doesn't make it, some knucklehead down the street will."