Do local knife stores make lots of money?

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yuchang

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Every time I pass a knife shop in malls, I usually walk in and have a look. I have not seen anyone buying a knife there. It might be a coincidence. The prices in those local stores are about 50% more than the best prices on the web.
 
Few knife stores really do good business. Smoky mountain, and some others make good money, but rarely do store fronts do well. The overhead of maintaining a store front, taxes, etc. All take part of the profit margins for stores. That coupled with who they are using for distributors, etc. all come into play also.

Usually though, most use moteng, blue ridge, national, or some other common distributor. The internet sales have allot to do with why many store fronts do not thrive these days. Smoky (the "wal-mart" of knives), and a few others being the exception of course, than of course some of these, like smoky do both, internet, storefront etc.
 
I doubt the mall stores make much money at all. In this day and age any twelve-year-old can compare prices online, their sales volume is low, and mall space rent is sky-high.

I think it would also be difficult for a new online knife store to make much money either. Existing online stores have been in business for years, establishing reputations and customer bases. Price competition is very tight. And startup costs are high - website development, inventory, and personnel.

Just my thoughts,
-Bob
 
The only store left around here with a decent selection of knives is a big gun store. The cutlery-only places have been gone for a while...

Gordon
 
Knife only places are VERY rare in Argentina nowadays. Most of the existing ones are not really up to date with the new companies, the only American company that gets here consistently is Buck and the prices are insane. A Buck 110 costs around $100. I ordered a new Endura and a Griptilian for around that much from the US!

I think SAKs are what they sell the most, both Victorinox and Wenger prices are OK in Buenos Aires.
 
Very few make real money. Most that do, have extras like knife sharpening, cosignment, high-end cookware or gadgets to help.
 
We had a dude who opened up a shop here locally* but he couldn't stay in business for long. It's really tough to make any storefront operation profitable when you have to compete with chain stores and the internet.

*He was also a fellow Hapkido practitioner & its a real shame he couldn't make it work...
 
Around this area, Westerly RI, there are two stores within easy driving distance. One is a very knowledgable independent and the other is a mall store with a few affiliates. While both seem to be doing OK, the price swings in the mall store can be frightening. While almost always being somewhere in the pricing ballpark, this is the same store that was charging 94 dollars for a Spydy Native identical to the Walmart version. Their pricing seemed better during the Holidays when their volume was probably up. Loyalty to a dealer has it's limits, I'm sorry to say, and those Natives I gave as gifts this year came from Walmart. There were other stores that had good selections of knives that have declined in their knife departments as of late or gone belly up altogether. The local independent I mentioned has a healthy online portal and I believe that is what allows him to keep his location going. If your ever in the Westerly/Charlestown RI area look for it. Being fairly new to the forum I don't want to drop a store name if that's not "good form.":confused:

Brian
 
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I think we brought in about $239 in our store last week (a bad week). Sounds like a joke, but it's not. The only way we survive is our website (ironic that many knife companies require you to have a storefront). I don't really see how a physical knife store could thrive (well, a store that only sells pocket knives). We had some Benchmade reps stop by the other day and one mentioned another local company who had closed shop in the mall and moved to a new location- he thought they were on their last leg partly because the mall dempgraphic has changed so much. I went and visited the new shop and I can't imagine they do much better than us (and they don't have an online presence).

Anyway, I babbled on here long enough (I'm partial to all things knife & business). I'm sure there are exceptions, but I don't think physical knife stores, in general, do too well (from the perspective of a guy who has one).

-Cam
 
I've thought a few times of opening a little knife shop, and then I give my head a shake. In this era of internet dealers, a brick and mortar store is going to be a hard, if not impossible, go. In a mall it would be even more difficult because of the huge rent that is charged.
 
I would go with mail order sales like Nachez on shooting supplies. They have a "warehouse" that you can physically go to and buy stuff, but most people don't know they are open to any business other than mail order.

I believe Smoky Mt knife works does good. Their store is really pretty impressive. They get a lot of tourist traffic.

There are a lot of people who don't shop prices on knives or anything really. They just assume that the asking price is competitive.
 
There is a huge store in Lancaster PA called Coutry Knives, it is out of the way and they have a HUGE inventory, it's the largest I've ever seen, if it's "manufactured" they have it, no real handmades, but lots of manufactured and semi-Custom. He must distribute or something because everything is priced at retail, I don't see why anyone would pay $195 for a Benchmade Resistor folder when they can buy the same knife online, or at the local gunshop for less....it's an awesome shop, and cool to look around in, but I don't see how he sells anything at retail prices...
 
Right now I live about 15-20 minutes from Country Knives. They're prices are HORRIBLE but as you said, their selection is tremendous. They must make a crapload of money though, because whenever I go there's always always always other people in there.
If anyone is thinking about stopping in there, it's technically in Intercourse <-- that's the town name :)
 
yea man, all I can think is that the tourists coming to see the Amish farms must keep him in business, his prices are terrifying at best. lol
 
Criticize - I'm from south of that area and have been there before. Their prices do suck. And just because there's a lot of people in there doesn't mean anyone's buying. A lot of places have a hard time competing with mail order and Walmart. Sometimes you go to a "specialty" store just to handle the merchandise you're going to buy elsewhere. I know I've done that before.

I had a tactical store in Ohio before I relocated to Washington state and I did okay with knives but I carried good quality, sold them for 20% or less profit and did all the local gun shows. The big thing is diversity of product, good prices and excellent customer service. Plus a LOT of work. I made my money because of the quantity & quality of business and product not because I made a lot on each knife.
 
I always just figured there were other shmucks like me who are willing to grossly overpay just to not have to wait a day or two for shipping lol :D
 
I've been in Country Knives in Intercourse (You have to drive through the town of Blue Ball to get to it, and have to leave through the town of Bird in Hand to leave it, I kid you not), and their prices are horrible. But, I paid full price for a couple knives in there, no self control I guess. The atmosphere is great, it's like when you were a kid walking into a candy store. They do have a great selection though. It's run right out of the owners house, so I'm guessing he doesn't have rent to worry about.

A guy who rents a spot at the local farmers market has outrageous overhead. At first I thought he was just bsing me about it, but I've gone through the process of renting a spot out there, and the fees, rent, utilities are a joke. He has good stuff from his personal collection, but makes his rent off of the junk, like Frost, Pakistan, United Cutlery and some of the okay stuff, like Magnum. Granted, most of the people that come into his shop aren't looking for Spydercos and Benchmades, but he does alright. He is trying to get a small eBay business started, because no one is buying his productions. I think myself and another guy bought all of his higher end productions over the past few years, and I've already traded or sold most of what I've gotten from him, and have become more selective about my purchases, buying some stuff from him out of his Blue Ridge catalog every now and again.
 
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