Wealthy are purchasing doomsday ‘luxury bomb shelters’ amid social unrest, says founder
A doomsday bunker company based in Dallas, Texas, has seen a recent increase in clients, noting that many Americans are worried about social unrest today.
Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview this week that almost half of Americans think the U.S. could see a civil war.
Atlas Survival Shelters manufactures different types of survival shelters used to protect people "in case of a pandemic outbreak, civil unrest, malicious mobs, and biological nuclear fallout or EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attacks from homegrown terrorists or other nations," the company's website says.
Thirteen percent of Americans feel a civil war is "very likely" — with an additional 34% saying it is "likely," according to a Marist National Poll done in May.
"Business is booming right now. We do bunkers anywhere from a million dollars to as low as $20,000. Some of our bunkers are even more than a million," said Hubbard.
"On average, most of the bunkers we do are about half a million dollars, because the kind of clientele that's buying bunkers right now are not poor."
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The average bunker has about nine rooms — and is "turnkey."
Hubbard said that on average, he sells at least one bunker per day and his phone rings off the hook.
He said his bunkers are not like others out there with modern features catering to the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
"The interiors of my bunkers look like houses" and anyone who saw them would think they were inside a hotel room, said Hubbard.
"This is why I work for a lot of high-end clients. Because they realize they don't want to suffer and be in a metal box. They want to be in something that feels like a luxury bomb shelter."
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Kim and Khloé Kardashian, as well as Mr. Beast, are among his impressive list of clients.
In addition to a factory in Dallas, Atlas Survival Shelters also has one in Poland that caters to European clients.
Serving clients in the United States and around the world, Hubbard said the Middle East has become "a hotbed" for clients.
"Countries like the United Arab Emirates … [are] picking up habits from Israel, which is they take a single room in an apartment in a high-rise because people mostly live in high rises, in Israel … Like a small bedroom — 10 foot-by-12 foot is the average size. And they turn that room into a solid concrete poured room with a gas pipe door and a nuclear biological chemical air filtration system."
Hubbard said he has been sharing the idea with American builders.
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"They should pick up these Israeli standards and turn a single room in a house into a hardened room and that would protect people from gunfire, from tornadoes, from hurricanes, from civil unrest," he said.
His company does more than just sell bunkers, said Hubbard.
It also tries to educate people about preparedness.
Atlas Survival Shelters has garnered 267,000 followers on Instagram, with a million likes on TikTok.