I'd have to give a split vote here. Like SteveP said, the guys at RFG in Robbinsdale are great. Just wish I lived closer, since from 200 miles away, I just don't go there very often! Prices are reasonable. Higher than online, but waaaaaay lower than a mall store. I don't think anyone can beat their selection of factory knives, and they carry some interesting custom stuff too.
That being said, otherwise my worst day dealing with an internet source is better than my best day with any other shop I've ran into up here selling knives. The most new models I've seen was in a mall store just before Christmas, but the prices were totally unreal. Try MSRP or even Higher on new models like the Axis, and the only discounts were on CRKT models, of which they had a ton. And like most everyone else has commented, the staff did not have a clue as to what they were selling...one thought the $59 CRKT Apache was the Axis!
Tried to pick up a knife at Wally World in Moorhead MN a couple years ago. Friend wanted a Buck Crosslock, they had one, but refused to sell it to me because the clerk couldnt' find the box to put it in!
there are two sporting goods stores within 3o miles of here that carry knives. The one right in town has a display of one to five year old model Buck knives, some fillet knives a company up here makes, some odds and ends in blister paks, and a funky looking skinner somebody ground out of a circular saw blade that has been sitting in their case for four years! The owner of that store thinks that his Frost Cutlery plastic handle lockback is a neat knife. Enough said?
But, he is a decent guy, and has shown an interest in the stuff I make here, even if he doesn't want to stock any.
The other sporting goods store is the biggest individual retailer in the area....mostly fishing and high end hunting gear. They do have more of a selection....Buck, Scharade, Gerbers, custom fillet knives, a display of Spyderco's, mostly models a year old or more, and a half dozen Benchmade older models like the Leopard and Spike. Spyderco's at retail, Benchmade at MSRP +.
More than anything else their attitude is, don't bug me. Don't ask to handle anything. Don't ask if we can get other models. Don't come up to the counter unless you want to buy it and get out fast, since time is money. A little has to do with the clerks having no idea what they are selling, but a lot of that has to do with the owner of the shop, and the way he has his help terrorized by all the ways he tries to control everything happening in 'his' store, from the closed circuit camreas everywhere, to the microphones at all the service counters so he can listen into conversations between customers and staff. No kidding.
Works for me though, since I got a couple sales just before Christmas from tourists visiting the area looking for a custom or expensive production knife for a present. The one shop blew them off, and the owner at the other gave them my name and suggested they talk to me.
Overall, I would say that there are very few retailers out there of what we would consider the 'major' brands like Benchmade and Spyderco that bother to stock the newest and latest models, and fewer still that know what they are selling or have anywhwere near the price and service and KNOWLEDGE of what they are selling compared to the internet dealers I've done business with.
and that's just my two cents
madpoet
