“People thought we were crazy because they never believed anything like this could happen,” Vivos CEO Robert Vicino, who operates an international doomsday bunker company, recently told The Verge, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a global economic collapse. “Now, they see it. Everybody is a believer.”
Vicino operates several apocalypse bunker communities, in particular, The Verge visited xPoint, an abandoned military facility-turned-survivalist town at the base of the Black Hills in Fall River County, South Dakota. He said, “demand for doomsday bunkers is at an all-time high,” due mostly to the virus pandemic.
Apocalypse bunkers were once for fringe preppers, now have become mainstream, and to some bunker buyers, it has become their vacation home. Vicino said sales are booming:
“We’re selling almost one a day right now,” he said, adding that his company recently brought in a million dollars in sales one day, and following that day, another $500,000.
xPoint’s website says there are “575 private military-built, concrete and steel, all-risk bunkers, is now repurposed and affordably priced – ready to provide life-saving shelter for your entire family or group.”
xPoint map
The history behind the site is that it was originally constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers as a bomb storing facility, from the 1940s through late 1960, when the base was retired. The Army then sold the property to the City of Edgemont, which in turn sold it to local farmers. Since then, Vivos bought the land with reporupose in mind.
xPoint community
The website goes on to say that each bunker “provides enough floor area, with attic potential, to comfortably accommodate 10 to 24 people and their needed supplies, for a year or more, of autonomous shelterization without needing to emerge outside. The compressive elliptical-shaped concrete bunker includes a massive front bulkhead wall, with a solid concrete and steel blast door entrance.”
xPoint bunker
Each bunker is priced at a “one-time upfront payment of $35,000, plus an ongoing annual ground rent of $1,000 per bunker,” the site said.
Bunker floor plan
Competely outfitted bunker
For the low-cost, bottom barrel bunker setup, mainly for paranoid hipsters. The company offers “bunker glamping” that can be outfitted in the space for an additional $25,000.
Low-cost bunker setup
The Verge spoke Tom and Mary, a pair of full-time residents at xPoint, who moved into their apocalypse bunker after the virus pandemic consumed the US earlier this year. The bunker was going to be their home base after retirement, but after they saw food shortages at supermarkets and the economy plunged — they decided it was the right time to move.
“We recognized that if we did have a full-on collapse of society as we know it, that we would be very vulnerable in our home west of Atlanta,” Tom said.
Both were inspired to purchase the bunker last year after they read Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse, which is a best-seller among prepper communities. In short, the book is about the economic collapse of the US. Tom said, “It opened my eyes to the level of vulnerability that most people have if something happens and food can’t be delivered to the store for whatever reason.”
Here’s their setup, including a camper and bunker at xPoint.
For those seeking “luxury doomsday bunkers” — we noted in April, New Zealand has become the mecca of pandemic escape in the world.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Tom and Mary look like they’d do well living underground.
I’m betting Mary offs Tom when the bunker food supply dwindles. Don’t do it Tom…….she may even eat you.
Yeah they both kind of have that mole people look about them.
Now that’s what you call living the dream!
Buy a bunker? No way.
Next we’ll be hearing about the Mad Max RV market. Sales gimmicks will include bullet resistant doors reinforced with cut-out inserts made from old tires, plexiglass windows four inches thick, and solid, puncture-proof tires that never get flat spots after being parked for months. Grates and cowcatchers are premium items.
All for sucker prices, too.
If folks want to see a home designed for defense yet out in plain sight, Col. Jeff Cooper’s place at Gunsite in Arizona is pretty cool.
Ya know, if the Fed wasn’t dropping us off the cliff with no parachute, we wouldn’t feel the need for survival bunkers. Seriously, if I lived west of the biggest Chimp Town in the world (Atlanta) I would probably join Tom and Mary in purchasing a bunker. When Atlanta blows and the world class chimpout begins, nobody will be safe in North Georgia…..nobody.
I will bet the Chitcago Chimpout will be every bit as neat as Atlanta. Maybe even better. Atlanta doesn’t have an ex-President Commander-In-Chimp to lead it off. Of course if he’s in prison for the attempted overthrow of his successor some other luminary like Jesse Jackass will have to do.
Looks more like a prison to me.
I personally believe that if one wants an effective “bunker” it probably should not have been discovered in advertisements, built by someone outside your own immediate family and should not have neighbors.
“I done heared dey be a bunch of rich muthaf’ers ova dere hidin’ out da ‘pocalypse. I thinks we oughts to pay dem muthaf’ers a visit wid da whole crew.” Yeah.
Yeah is right. If you’re in a fixed position extreme caution must be exercised, that is not it.
Epically enough, Vicino means “neighboring” or “close by” in Italian. The CEO has a perfect name to lead a bunker company.
Why New Zealand? Lots of earthquakes in that area.
No way, living in a bunker surrounded by 574+ people you barely know. I will stay in my house on my property. Have my garden, neighbors I can trust, and friends to help me. Belong to a church and a gun club, WTSHTF, no one is going to tolerate any BS.
Hard Assets
Hard people.
Hard principles.
Stack ’em broad and deep.
You are going to need them