Brick & Mortar Stores....

T

Turncoat13

Feedback: +1 / =0 / -0
Joined
Jan 26, 2013
Messages
13
First off let me start by saying B&M stores are great, they give us the opportunity to handle the knives which we seek..... and that's about it. Now I may get trolled or incur some harsh opinions or some of you may agree with me(I hope).

Also I'm all for supporting my local stores and helping those that run these operations succeed and be a staple in the town in which I reside(I'm actually born and raised), and that is Las Vegas, NV.

But at these price points I just can't fork over that much. Everything in this particular store IS at MSRP or a percentage higher, Example:

Spyderco Brad Southard Flipper. Online I've seen $220 shipped, in this store $399.95.
Spyderco Para Military 2. Online I've seen $108-$135 shipped, in this store $185.95

Now these are just 2 examples and I could make a list of 50 more but I think you all get the point. Granted if I plopped cash on the counter I could deal and I've talked to lady who owns this store a lot and she's a really kind person. I know I could deal but I still wouldn't get close to what I could buy for online or over the forum.

I was speaking to her actually about the Para Military 2 and what she has to pay Spyderco or where ever she orders these, her cost is $85 per unit. Now I asked her if I wanted to buy 10 could she order that for me and I only pay her $100 per unit in which she replied, "As long as I have the money up front and I can find 10 to order for you" she would do it.... So she's willing to deal which is good. But I'm not gonna buy 10 PM 2's...

I'm just ranting maybe it's different for my forum brothers/sisters here on BladeForums.com depending where you live and which B&M stores you frequent, but at these prices I just can't pull the trigger and buy from this store since when I go in I'm only looking at 1 maybe 2 knives I'd like to handle.

And if you're curious about this particular store name just PM me and I'll tell you. (they do have some Yelp reviews)

Anyone's comment/post or rant if you want would be great, I'd like to here others opinions. I guess I'm just spoiled with online prices...
 
I know the store of which you speak (I spent three years at Nellis and I've been back to Las Vegas many times). I like that store and I have spent money there because when I've gone there, I've seen something I liked in the display case and could handle it. If there were any decent (or even not decent) brick & mortar stores in my current area, I'd go to them, too, but this place doesn't have any, so I'm mostly a prisoner of online shopping. Oh the world we'd have if we could have brick & mortar stores and online prices.......
 
I'm sure you're talking about a vertain store on W. Sahara, just East of Valley View. Right?? That place is a joke. I have not bought one thing from them do to their ridiculous prices. I'm all about the exchange ads here on BF's. once in a while I buy from a BF supporter like Knife Works or GP Knives.

I find most B&M simply cannot compete with the online dealers.
 
I shamelessly use them for handling the knives and that's about it. They honestly do not make their money off the expensive knives. They nickel and dime consumers with Gerber and Case and all the little cheapies because that is what they can buy, as well as what the majority of folks are willing to pay for. That is why the big name stores pretty much never have knives over $100. At the same time, the smaller stores make their own policies and seem to gamble on more expensive knives from time to time.

In my opinion, you not buying their in-store knife at twice the price isn't hurting their business; yet they ARE taking a loss on a risk they felt was worth taking. How else will they test the local market to see what sells, though?
 
In my country there's just the one store that carries decent knives, and the selection is poor by US standards. They've got a lot of Cold Steels, a pretty decent number of Spydercos, some Zero Tolerance knives, a few Benchmades, some ESEES, Ka-Bars, Fallkniven, Fox; the odd Emerson, Microtech or Protech. Depending on the dealer price they get, their prices on each brand are MSRP and up.

Honestly, since ordering on-line is such a hassle in Argentina (our government is placing all sorts of anti-import laws, especially on things paid in dollars), I'm perfectly happy to pay a little a premium and let the store owners worry about taxes, weird new customs rules, theft and so on. I used to order stuff on-line from the US all the time, but now it's just not worth it most of the time.

I used to own a store myself (sold production and custom knives, and mountaineering gear), and I learned that even a modest shop has lots of little extra expenses that add up to a hefty overhead. The price of the merchandise itself is just part of the equation. I had to sell most items at twice the wholesale price to make a profit (in fact, some clothing brands enforced a minimum retail price that was double the wholesale cost).
 
Most of these stores don't really know how to make sales off of quality knives. Price protected products are one thing, can't do much about it, but a little market research would really help these people to circulate inventory and put forth a better business reputation. Selling a Spyderco Southard for $400 is simply ridiculous, yet they have no idea that if they dropped their price even a little they would automatically be competitive to a degree. How these shops can be comfortable in the grips of conformity (selling a couple M Tech garbage knives every couple days) is beyond me.
 
My local B&M shop went out of business last Christmas. Vernon's 77 & smoke 2+ packs of Pall Mall's a day. It was about time he retired. Havin' said that, the closest knife shop for me to fondle toys at is up in the Smokies, about 3 hrs away. It's a bit overpriced to my likin'. However, I look at it like this. I'll give them a percentage of my knife purchases for their accessibility. Definitely not all my purchases, but about 20-ish percent. What I buy there I can get cheaper online, but we've got a symbiotic relationship goin' on...
 
Vegas Blade said:
I'm sure you're talking about a vertain store on W. Sahara, just East of Valley View. Right?? That place is a joke. I have not bought one thing from them do to their ridiculous prices. I'm all about the exchange ads here on BF's. once in a while I buy from a BF supporter like Knife Works or GP Knives.

I find most B&M simply cannot compete with the online dealers.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct Vegas Blade, you know the store of which I speak. I too like Knifeoworks, they are one of the online retailers I order from along with BladeHQ..

RemyKaze honestly I'm not sure how they make any profit at all really, every time I've gone in there I was the only customer. On average I spend about 30 minutes browsing and handling the knives, only a couple time has another customer walked in and they were gone before I was. But this store does have a large selection not just the inexpensive knives like Gerber and Case. Their selection of Spyderco and Benchmade is vast even carrying discontinued knives. There were hardly any Midtechs to be seen, maybe they weren't on display I'm not sure. I asked if she had Microtech's and she showed me one owned by her employee/co-owner called the "Microtech Hawk," from 1996 it said on the tag at a price point of $500...
 
I wish there were brick and mortars selling anything I wanted to look at around here. The amazing thing is, it's Houston for crying out loud! A quick google search reveals only 1 honest to goodness knife store in the fourth largest city in the U. S. You might find a few Benchmades at a gun shop and I have yet to find a single Spyderco around here. Bass pro? No selection. Academy? Kershaw is the top of the line. Online or the exchange on here seem to be the only real choices.
 
I am spoiled in that I am fortunate enough to live within a 20 minute drive of Grand Prarie Knives, a nice B&M store and (i think) a fairly competitive online dealer. My other local dealers are really gun shops for anything quality, and their pricing is not the least bit competitive with GPKnives or online pricing from other BF's approved dealers. I wonder if their in store pricing is competitive in part because they are a good online dealer as well? Not sure
 
I'm lucky enough to live within driving distance of a B&M that does discount. Not quite internet prices, but close. A couple of miles down the street there's another store with a larger selection that is MSRP. I buy from both from time to time. If I can buy from the discounter I'll do that. If I can only get a particular knife from the MSRP store, I'll still do that occasionally instead of buying online just for the privilege of being able to handle their stuff.
 
There is a B&M store near me which also has an online presence. It's not a huge one or anything but you've probably heard of it.

His prices are good, nothing to write home about but good. An Opinel #8 in stainless is $10. He also has used knives for decent prices.

I like it enough to wish I could name it. I know I'm lucky to have one near me.
 
I'm all about the exchange ads here on BF's. once in a while I buy from a BF supporter like Knife Works or GP Knives.

I find most B&M simply cannot compete with the online dealers.
Click to expand...

You should know that many/most of the best online dealers are also Brick and Mortar stores. Grand Prairie Knives is one of these.

Heck, AG Russell and some others have been dealers with B&M locations since before most people had even heard of the Internet!

So the whole "B&M stores can't compete..." is simply nonsense. They could if they wanted to.
 
Bob W said:
You should know that many/most of the best online dealers are also Brick and Mortar stores. Grand Prairie Knives is one of these.

Heck, AG Russell and some others have been dealers with B&M locations since before most people had even heard of the Internet!

So the whole "B&M stores can't compete..." is simply nonsense. They could if they wanted to.
Click to expand...

The problem is that many businesses are not run by good businessmen. That's a whole skill-set in itself. They really need to apprentice under a man like A.G. or Roger Claunch of Knifeworks to see how to get the job done. Also, one of the tools that helps is a large stock of good products, and a relationship with manufacturers and other dealers that gives them access to what customers want to buy. As in every business, you don't start at the top; you have to work your way up. Many B&M sellers open their doors and don't upgrade their business model past that point.
 
I live 3 minutes from a good 'ol country knife store. Problem is that the prices are INSANE! I have spent about $600 at the shop, but just can't justify it anymore. $99 for a Delica, $189 for P2. What this store does have is hundreds if not thousands of old pocket knives. He also has 100+ customs from some pretty big name makers. Big inventory of new BM, Spyderco, ZT, CS, SOG, Case, etc.. He does a good bit of business with LE and offers a 10% discount for LE & military. I semi-jokingly offered to buy his shop and he said "make me an offer". If it is still around in 10 years I just might. I need to find some free time and offer to build him a website. I could then maybe talk him into some online sales. Maybe he has no interest though.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The problem is that many businesses are not run by good businessmen. That's a whole skill-set in itself. They really need to apprentice under a man like A.G. or Roger Claunch of Knifeworks to see how to get the job done. Also, one of the tools that helps is a large stock of good products, and a relationship with manufacturers and other dealers that gives them access to what customers want to buy. As in every business, you don't start at the top; you have to work your way up. Many B&M sellers open their doors and don't upgrade their business model past that point.
Click to expand...
This is a very good point and squarely encompasses the issues we as customers see when we go into a non-big box store.
RetiredGuns said:
I live 3 minutes from a good 'ol country knife store. Problem is that the prices are INSANE! I have spent about $600 at the shop, but just can't justify it anymore. $99 for a Delica, $189 for P2. What this store does have is hundreds if not thousands of old pocket knives. He also has 100+ customs from some pretty big name makers. Big inventory of new BM, Spyderco, ZT, CS, SOG, Case, etc.. He does a good bit of business with LE and offers a 10% discount for LE & military. I semi-jokingly offered to buy his shop and he said "make me an offer". If it is still around in 10 years I just might. I need to find some free time and offer to build him a website. I could then maybe talk him into some online sales. Maybe he has no interest though.
Click to expand...

I've seen their store online and it's completely unreasonable as far as their pricing. You are right in the feeling is antiquated. I see the same thing locally from the gun shops. A Benchmade 710 in D2, pretty common knife sells for about $20 above MSRP. I remember I bought a few boxes of ammo last year during the shortage in January, and I saw the exact same knives 8 months later (adhesive price tags in the same place, knives arranged in the same order). I asked one clerk if they sold a lot of knives, he said they sell about 1 or 2 ever 2 weeks. :eek: I was like, you could sell more if you dropped the prices a bit. He just shrugged with no visible interest in a reply.
 
Sounds like BIG C to me. Just sayin'
Bowman1911 said:
My local B&M shop went out of business last Christmas. Vernon's 77 & smoke 2+ packs of Pall Mall's a day. It was about time he retired. Havin' said that, the closest knife shop for me to fondle toys at is up in the Smokies, about 3 hrs away. It's a bit overpriced to my likin'. However, I look at it like this. I'll give them a percentage of my knife purchases for their accessibility. Definitely not all my purchases, but about 20-ish percent. What I buy there I can get cheaper online, but we've got a symbiotic relationship goin' on...
Click to expand...
 
Of course B&M stores are more expensive. They pay all the overhead of running a store, paying utilities, paying utilities, etc. The bigger the chain or higher the volume, the lower the price compared to a single store or small chain, but still higher than the web. Why is this a surprise. It's simple economics.
I like to occasionally, ok, regularly, visit a local chain sporting goods store. They beat online with one thing: the knife counter guy and gal know me. I give them my business when I can so they stay in business. Of course I buy online too, but it's not the same.
Other local 2 location warehouse sporting goods retailer, same thing. The guys know me, they know what I like, show me the new stuff that comes in, and they get my business.

The two businesses, online and B&M, are totally different. But both have their merits, and I love both for what their pluses are.
 
I have talked to a western MD brick and mortar store owner, and he said the price of the point of sale software is not worth it to put his stuff online. He does have his custom and upper echelon production knives on his website, which has directions etc. His prices are very good, not as good as online, but still much better than other brick and mortar shops. Another one, in Delaware, has some of their high dollar knives on their site, but mainly keep to inhouse traffic. I bought a Case Bose wharncliff trapper there for a great price a couple months ago, much better than what I've seen them go for online. A dealer in PA, who's shop I absolutely enjoy to visit, has horrible prices. They get everyone in there, buying all manner of knives. It can go both ways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top