Underground bunkers may sound like the last place you'd want to wait out a pandemic.
Most people think of bunkers as being dark, dank and dingy.
“We felt like people didn't have to be uncomfortable just because they were inside of a shelter designed to protect them in a bad situation,” said Gary Lynch, general manager of Rising S Company.
Rising S Company manufactures luxury underground bunkers.
It’s located in Murchison, Texas, a small city hall, tractor rich, blink-and-you-miss-it town near Athens.
Lynch said business is booming.
“We've added 18 people and put on a second crew to keep up with demand,” he said.
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Lynch keeps his client list of actors, politicians and entrepreneurs a secret.
“You'd absolutely know who I was talking about,” he said.
Recently, he said he took a call from a client on a flight to New Zealand, said to be a destination for doomsday preppers.
“One of the questions was, 'What's the combination to my door because I’d forgotten it,'” Lynch said.
Stairs take people 10 feet underground where the steel bunkers are buried.
They have all the luxuries of home -- but a full kitchen, pantry and living room are just the beginning.
One model is 1,150 square feet with a bathroom, two bedrooms and an entire room for weapons built with an escape hatch attached.
If that seems too dull, maybe another model with a bowling alley, theater, garden and garage is more your speed.
Right now, Lynch said he's building a bunker for a man who wanted a $6,000 copper clawfoot bathtub.
He said business was already up, but interest peaked during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We're on the verge of an economic collapse and if there’s an economic collapse, how are people going to eat? What are they going to do? You're going to need to be prepared for just absolute chaos,” Lynch said.
Lynch said the working class makes up the most of his business.
The shelters range in price from $40,000 to more than $8 million
