Anyone ever consider opening a store Front for custom and production knives?

scott kozub

scott kozub

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This may be in the wrong forum.

I've been making knives as a hobby for a couple years now and the response has been great. I've noticed that in the area I live in, there are no options around for high quality kitchen knives. Just a Henckel outlet Store. Toronto has a store but it's about 1.5 hrs away that sells nice Japanese knives that's been around a while. I'm in a pretty affluent area so I think a high end knife store could do well. I'd be focusing on kitchen knives because EDC's aren't really a thing where I live.

I have been toying with the idea idea opening a store front. As I've only been making knives for a couple years, I would intend to make the vast majority of product offerings production knives. The plan would be to mainly sell higher end production knives but also have a shop in the back where I could make knifes and sell them as well. The goal would be to start off mostly selling production knives (almost all production knives) and then add my own as time goes on. I think it would be a cool idea to have a store front where a customer can see the shop in the back with knives being made.

Right now it's just a pipe dream that I wouldn't be seriously considering for quite a while as I'd need to do a lot of research. I have a good job but am seriously considering a career change. I'd need to see what production knives I'd like to carry and how to go about that. I do think that this would be developing a market as there isn't anything like this near by.

Has anyone out there opened a store and do you have any info on the selling of production knives?
 
In Midland Texas we have a store (two of them actually) named Bear Claw Knife and Shear. The place makes a killing.

They sell high end kitchen knives along with some other kitchen items (cutting boards, knife holders, etc). They also sell EDC and hunting production knives. (They also do knife sharpening @ 5$ per knife)

In the back they have a small section with high end olive oil (they do tastings on the regular).

Lastly they have a case that is only for custom knives where they sell maker’s knives on consignment. They take the price you give them and mark it up by 33%.

—————

The place is busy often. Strategically (or maybe by luck) they’re located next to a discount tire and hobby lobby... So when people are waiting on their new mudding tires to be installed they can go look at knives! Same phenomenon with Hobby Lobby... the wife goes to hobby lobby and the husband goes and looks around bear claw.

It can be noted that the area is an oil town. Lots of guys who like cool hunting knives and a good deal of house wives who like cooking. All with dollars in their pocket.

They also have some mini-knife shows with the production knife companies coming in from time to time.

The owner is often in the store shaking hands. Looks like he loves his job.
 
J. Keeton said:
In Midland Texas we have a store (two of them actually) named Bear Claw Knife and Shear. The place makes a killing.

They sell high end kitchen knives along with some other kitchen items (cutting boards, knife holders, etc). They also sell EDC and hunting production knives. (They also do knife sharpening @ 5$ per knife)

In the back they have a small section with high end olive oil (they do tastings on the regular).

Lastly they have a case that is only for custom knives where they sell maker’s knives on consignment. They take the price you give them and mark it up by 33%.

—————

The place is busy often. Strategically (or maybe by luck) they’re located next to a discount tire and hobby lobby... So when people are waiting on their new mudding tires to be installed they can go look at knives! Same phenomenon with Hobby Lobby... the wife goes to hobby lobby and the husband goes and looks around bear claw.

It can be noted that the area is an oil town. Lots of guys who like cool hunting knives and a good deal of house wives who like cooking. All with dollars in their pocket.

They also have some mini-knife shows with the production knife companies coming in from time to time.

The owner is often in the store shaking hands. Looks like he loves his job.
Click to expand...
heck I'll have to check that out next time i'm in texas
 
I'd focus on setting up a good shop selling high end production knives and cutting boards etc.
Custom knives won't be more then a beautiful extra.
Showing how they are made will be a cool extra
 
It sounds like an absolute nightmare. This from someone with a couple of operating businesses. One brick and mortar and one only online.

I would be worried about competing with established online stores that can no doubt crush with their buying power, SEO, online marketing dollars and established online presence.

There are many many options in your area for high-end knives. More than they know what to do with.

They are all online. They are on Amazon. They are what people buy off of Etsy with pakistani damascus and pakkawood handles for less than you can buy the materials for. They are the "high end" set at the Bed Bath and Beyond in town.

For the truly erudite there is chefknivestogo.com which has many many fine offerings at reasonable prices.

I would also say that, with the greatest respect, one would have no idea if a place is "killing it" without seeing a balance sheet. Having a number of folks browsing is one thing. Covering rent is another.

I don't want to be a turd in the punch bowl but I do err on the side of folks not turning their hobby into something that has to cover the mortgage.

How much money and time do you have to develop the market? How much to change people's behaviors? How many chef knives can you sell to each one that you convert? How much is rent? How much in an area that has foot traffic? How many people are going to come out to watch you work and who is manning the counter while they do that?

One thing that might be feasible, perhaps, would be to see if you could have a shop of sorts in an existing place that already has some of these? Then again are they going to want to have the noise and the dust of you grinding things?

Sorry but I just want to do a little Devil's Advocate here.
 
J. Keeton said:
In Midland Texas we have a store (two of them actually) named Bear Claw Knife and Shear. The place makes a killing.

They sell high end kitchen knives along with some other kitchen items (cutting boards, knife holders, etc). They also sell EDC and hunting production knives. (They also do knife sharpening @ 5$ per knife)

In the back they have a small section with high end olive oil (they do tastings on the regular).

Lastly they have a case that is only for custom knives where they sell maker’s knives on consignment. They take the price you give them and mark it up by 33%.

—————

The place is busy often. Strategically (or maybe by luck) they’re located next to a discount tire and hobby lobby... So when people are waiting on their new mudding tires to be installed they can go look at knives! Same phenomenon with Hobby Lobby... the wife goes to hobby lobby and the husband goes and looks around bear claw.

It can be noted that the area is an oil town. Lots of guys who like cool hunting knives and a good deal of house wives who like cooking. All with dollars in their pocket.

They also have some mini-knife shows with the production knife companies coming in from time to time.

The owner is often in the store shaking hands. Looks like he loves his job.
Click to expand...

Darn, I worked out there forever and never knew about this place.
 
I'd imagine that starting a "from scratch" brick and mortar when you don't already have a well known brand or franchise is a pretty tall order, especially for more "specialty" items like knives and such. Location will make or break a business like that, and you'll still likely see a majority of sales through online orders (assuming you implement that into your business structure, which you should.)
 
The world has gone to big corporate franchises with volume buying power pushing mom and pop shops out of business. Then look at online shopping with free shipping. Artisans are left with low volume boutique customers. Sales are often largely based on maker name recognition. I can’t tell you how many times people find out I make knives, especially kitchen knives, and they proudly show me their cutco set they got that never needs sharpening. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but a brick and mortar store is probably the last thing I would consider. Even my mental health business doesn’t have an office. I do home visits, telephone or video conferencing sessions. People don’t think like they did 20 years ago.
 
You will have to make enough to cover your former job salary, Plus rent and utilities costs, plus whatever taxes come off the top.

It's far easier to save $100 than it is to earn $150 pretax to earn the new $100

If you're out front selling, you're not in the back making.
Are you a good salesman ? most maker are not

If you make in the same space, you're creating a huge dusty mess that's not good for selling in.


If you have a nice store front, you're not using the home based businesses deductions that can reduce your costs.

Live like a pauper, keep your job, save cash create a plan
Once you have a plan, it's much easier to be happy and enjoy your job again.

Multiple revenue streams



Have the wife keep her job and medical insurance.

Own the building, use one unit, rent out the other 3 or more and make sure that it is cash flow positive.
The rent not only pays for itself, but puts cash in your pocket too.

Carry good quality hair cutting scissors, and take the courses / buy the equipment to sharpen them.
Real haircutters have several shears and they could be $1,000 each - sharpening could be $25 to 50
They treat shears like mechanics do snap on tools, they like the good stuff and theypay because it's their living.

Knife sharpening - drop off and pick up
That's what keeps people coming in and gives them a reason to eyeball the good stuff while you make that $10 sale.


Don't just sell the stuff you make, but sell stuff that sells for 10x's the wholesale price and you have no time into making it.
Sharpeners and such.

My jewler is a truly qualified watchmaker. He has the tools and skills to build manual and automatics by hand from scratch.
He makes his rent and grocery money on changing watch batteries for ~$10 when he's buying them bulk for a dollar each or less.

Nice cutting boards

Make and sell nice knives online, in other stores on commission basis, build skills, build a client basis - let them sell while you are at your job or in the shop.

Do all of that while still working until the business pays for itself and demands your time.


Why do all the new foreign owned business that sell retail do corner stores ?

Beer, smokes, milk, bread, ice, soda pop, candy, gasoline, condoms.
It's recession proof and we all pay the rapey prices because it's close it's open and there's something we need.

No one needs to buy a knife every week.
 
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I've thought about it, I think I would like to do it, but now I'm 50 and debt free and think I don't need it.
I live near Sedona AZ which gets almost 3 million visitors a year there. But I think mostly older retired folks and some buy high end items, but most buy small cash and carry items. Nearby Jerome gets about 2.5 million visitors a year.
I've thought about a little shop in the area with a storefront and shop in the back, I would like it, but I wouldn't like the risks.
Instagram tells me the majority of my customers online are Male between 25-44
Tourists visiting this area tend to be older.

One of the main reasons I gave knifemaking a go fulltime was to buy my freedom.
Having a retail shop takes away that freedom IMO.
 
There are some great comments here. The one thing to note would be that the majority of the business would be production knives. I could make my own when I had time and sell them there. The shop would be separated by a glass partition. I was thinking that having the shop in the back would be something unique to stand out. I think most people would prefer to buy a knife from a person that makes them rather than a bed bath and beyond display case. At least someone in the higher end market anyways.

The reason for the change wouldn't be to get rich or try to match my current income as that likely wont happen. It would be a career change that would allow me to interact with customers and do something I enjoy.

There were some great points about working out of your house. I have a large shop that I currently work out of. I'm going to be renovating it next year so I could easily convert that space. Then I'm not worried about rent etc.

For the time being, I'm just going to work on building an inventory and do a few "Handmade" markets that they have here. There's about 4 local ones per year plus craft shows. I think that would give me a much better indication of the market without investing too much. If I did go after this idea, it wouldn't be for a few years anyways.

Thanks All.
 
I don't think there's a real market for a brick and mortar knife store. You might be able to do a knife store that happens to sell hardware supplies, or some similar complimentary items as well, but I think it would be a really tough go with just knives. Kind of like gun stores tend to carry knives as well, or bed bath and beyond. The knives are usually the complimentary sale, not the target.

I think in order for it to work you would need to have nothing else around that sells knives so there's limited competition. Unfortunately, that's usually tied to low population so you're unlikely to have a lot of customers, or at least impulse shoppers.

I think the lack of knife stores helps tell the story of why there aren't more. I do think you could probably do okay if you offer a lot of services like sharpening and repair and tie that directly to other industries like restaurants, butchers, meat processors, and so on. Ultimately, you would want to see if there's actually a market for it in your area of operation.

To answer one of your questions I missed, I've considered it but I don't think I would make money at it, so it would be more of a hobby as I like running systems and spreadsheets. I like leading people more and I don't know that a small store, and it would likely stay as such even if profitable, wouldn't really allow for leading a lot of people in a professional setting. But, it could be a fun learning experience for a future opportunity. I pretty expect to fail a certain number of times before something sticks so getting those out of the way is just a necessary challenge.
 
HSC /// said:
Instagram tells me the majority of my customers online are Male between 25-44
Click to expand...
This is an interesting perspective. The Lady that used to own the only Brick and Mortar store in town also has a Kiosk in a very busy Truck Stop on the interstate. In casual conversation she also said that the Kiosk generated 10X the business the B&M store did and was in that 25-50 age group.
 
George Tichbourne did a small retail store with kitchen that he did, but the wife covered the store while he did the shop.
Plus it seems most of his income was metal polishing from various industries. Old car parts that needed to have the pits polished out before re-chrome, plus milk trucks, that sort of thing.
 
It would never even cross my mind as a viable option. Lots of overhead, for a potentially very limited customer base. I'll stick with internet/Facebook and "show" sales.
 
One point I haven't seen mentioned is what you really want/expect from a storefront. If the goal is to make a real living, I can't argue with any of the points above. But if your goal is to have a hobby and small job--and a certain amount of income isn't essential--why the heck not?

I've done it. I have a tiny (really tiny) business a few miles from my home. I have a small shop space, with a folding table and display cases at the front. People wander in now and then to leave their knives for sharpening, and sometimes they buy one of my mine. I get a fair amount of repeat business. Enough to make a living? Not even close. But enough to cover some supplies, with occasional lunch money on top of that.

Of course, I'm retired, so I'd call it a hobby more than a business. I don't need the income, what there is of it. My rent is cheap (about $250/month), and my wife is glad to get me out of the house. Also, I live in Mexico, where many people run businesses in hopes of catching a few bucks a day. If I kept good books, I'd probably discover that I lose $$ on each knife I sell. I make it up in volume.

- matthew
 
matthewhoffman said:
One point I haven't seen mentioned is what you really want/expect from a storefront. If the goal is to make a real living, I can't argue with any of the points above. But if your goal is to have a hobby and small job--and a certain amount of income isn't essential--why the heck not?

I've done it. I have a tiny (really tiny) business a few miles from my home. I have a small shop space, with a folding table and display cases at the front. People wander in now and then to leave their knives for sharpening, and sometimes they buy one of my mine. I get a fair amount of repeat business. Enough to make a living? Not even close. But enough to cover some supplies, with occasional lunch money on top of that.

Of course, I'm retired, so I'd call it a hobby more than a business. I don't need the income, what there is of it. My rent is cheap (about $250/month), and my wife is glad to get me out of the house. Also, I live in Mexico, where many people run businesses in hopes of catching a few bucks a day. If I kept good books, I'd probably discover that I lose $$ on each knife I sell. I make it up in volume.

- matthew
Click to expand...


Just exploring options but in reality, it would probably be more of a hobby business when closer to retirement.

I thinks its best to keep doing it out of my home shop as a hobby and maybe hit some markets to grow some recognition. If I get a decent reputation (way too new for one yet) it may be something fun to retire with.
 
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