How many of you try to buy local?

F

Fletcher.357

Joined
Jul 6, 2013
Messages
291
I buy local every chance I get. It may cost me a tiny bit more, but it makes me feel better supporting my local economy. I am lucky that my preferred LGS have a phenomenal knife section with a top notch staff. I dont exclusively buy local as I have recently developed an RMJ and a bradford habit, but I try. I'm curious as to how many of us make an attempt to buy local.
 
About 85% of my knife purchases last year were either at brick & mortar stores or shows. I'm lucky as KSF is fairly close by and I make trips fairly often to the Smoky Mts and often visit that other big TN knife store on my way out. I honestly try to only visit that TN store two or three times a year as I always spend money there. With KSF, I just visit when I am pretty set on buying something. I don't browse there. I could easily visit KSF several times a week and I just stay away. It is not easy to browse at KSF as they have a limited number of knives on display in their store front.
 
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Not many places around where I live that have the inventory I'm interested in. I'd probably have to drive over 100 miles to see a Reeve's, Hinderer, Olamic, etc and then it would be limited inventory and priced accordingly. I have purchased ZT's, Spyder's and BM's at a local Sportsman's Warehouse but as a secondary purchase while shopping for other stuff. I sometimes purchase on-line from an in-state site which I would still consider local. I have enough Buck's, Cases and other relatively inexpensive knifes that are most common at any of the local stores I shop at that I'm not buying those anymore. Sometimes I buy 2nd hand from locals.

Living in NW Oregon there are plenty of decent local factory options but at this point I'm saturated with the locally made stuff or have no interest in it. Now if I lived in Idaho it's be a different story, there's still a lot of stuff coming from there I'm interested in :)
 
There is no place close to me that sales knives (the occassional CRKT at Walmart). When looking, I have no choice but to go online (which is a shame because I believe that knives are like guns in the respect that it is good to be able to handle one before plunking down my hard-earned pennys).
 
I don’t have any good local retail knife outlets anywhere near me. I wish I did. Walmart, Dicks/Field+Stream and minimal knife inventories at a couple local gun dealers are all I have access to and the sum total of everything that they all have available is dismal. Because I’m not interested in knives that come in blister-packs, I have to do any knife shopping online.
 
I didnt used to since no BnM sold quality knives. I pretty much had to purchase online.

A local place started carrying Kershaw and ZT, so I bought 6 or 7 ZTs from the over the last couple of a years. A jewelry exchange has started selling Spyderco, Benchmade, Microtech, etc. Bought an Ultratech from them and may be back for a Spyderco in the future.

I recently stopped in at Spark's shop and bought my first Inkosi. He's only a couple hours a way in a town I frequent a bit, so I consider that pretty local.

I'm a small business guy. I would prefer spending 10 bucks more on product where the company's taxes are contributing to my community and the profits aren't padding the pockets of a multibillion dollar enterprise.
 
I buy local if I can. But for stuff like GEC you don't see many of them in Canada never mind the SFO releases.

And just a note for me, local is a 5 hour drive but it does end at one of the best spots in the province for knives.
 
One gun shop is a Benchmade dealer. Cabela's is about an hour round trip. Otherwise it's gas station junk. I hate waiting for things. I'd prefer to buy local and have it in my hand. I would buy more locally if the option existed.
 
Not many brick and mortars sell knives near me. Lowes, Walmart, and Big 5 have an alright selection, but nothing that suits my tastes. HD and Target suxors. I buy my stuff online.
 
OogieBoogie said:
There is no place close to me that sales knives (the occassional CRKT at Walmart). When looking, I have no choice but to go online (which is a shame because I believe that knives are like guns in the respect that it is good to be able to handle one before plunking down my hard-earned pennys).
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Yep pretty much same here. There is only one outdoor store close that has a decent inventory of Benchmade, Spyderco, Ka Bar and a few other good brands. I once felt excited to go when we needed ammo or Christmas shopping, and go check out their knives. But I quickly realized that their knives never changed. Its always the same stuff. I have bought 2 Benchmades from there, but really don't even look anymore because I have seen it all already. And the few people behind the displays look as though they are 15 and can't get off their phones to help. The one girl was always playing with a knife and I swear, just by watching her, she was about to lose a finger. That would be my only reason to stick around the knife section anymore. And nobody knew anything at all when they did look up away from their phone. So its online. I basically know now the handle materials and weights I like and look for, along with blade length. Most of my purchases have been better than anticipated. I thank the people on here who mentioned Bladehq, DLTtrading and Knifecenter. I would definately buy and support a local dealer, especially if it was not a chain store, if there was one.
 
It'a a pretty idea that a decade ago I would have gobbled down hook line and sinker.
then
When the local people wouldn't have what I wanted to buy they would stand there with their thumb up their ____ and I would say can I order it ?
And they would look like I just took them away from something "important" like leaning against the counter and devoting all their energy to looking blank and uninterested.
So I twist their arm into ordering it and taking my info.
I call back in a month . . . nah it's not here yet. A week later same line of bull.
I happen to go into the store to shop and low and behold what I ordered is hanging on the wall. ONE of them.
The only one they have.
Mine.

I get the bright idea that hey . . . maybe a fishing guide / fly fishing shop (well established been here for thirty years) might sell pocket knives. So I call them up and ask if they sell pocket knives.
The guy on the phone says : ? ? ? knives ? ? ? KNIVES ? ? ? ? I'll go look . . . just a minute . . .
(he's kidding right ?)
he finally comes back to the phone and rattles off a name I had never heard of.
I didn't ever stop in to see what the heck that was.

My climbing shop used to have a big case with all the SAKs in it . . . that was more than a decade ago.
I looked about three years ago. NOTHING.
?
So no.
I buy on line. Why ? The vendors have the specs I want posted and I don't have to ask some uninterested counter support to please lie to me and make up some nonsense or scowl at me. I just look at the specs and compare them and have a good old time shopping . . . on line.

Now I work in retail and have all my life as well as mechanical. I am continually embarrassed at how
P O O R L Y
The owners as well as the employees handle simple special orders or out of stock orders to let someone know when it comes back into stock that I want to wring their neck. There is all this counter leaning and counter supporting that takes priority you see . . .

. . . yeah no sympathy (any more from too many bad experiences) for the local stores sorry.​
 
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I should, for sure... But the internet offers so many tempting horizons ! And I am very happy about it. It allowed me to discover Nepalese, Croatian, Polish and Bulgarian knifemakers which have delighted me with their production. As they are knifemakers on Blade Forums' Knife Makers Market, I may perhaps say that I buy local, in a way.
 
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No Knife shops where I live so I support the Dealers in our community here on the forum.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I recently stopped in at Spark's shop and bought my first Inkosi. He's only a couple hours a way in a town I frequent a bit, so I consider that pretty local.
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So glad you put me on to this shop. I can't wait to visit and hopefully purchase my first CRK from there. I'm about an hour away so hopefully one weekend I can find the time to make the trek.

But back to the original question, I try to buy locally when I can. The only two retailers in town are Buds who are a BM and Spyderco dealer but prices are higher than online and another LGS who is a BM dealer. I actually bought a Crooked River from them because it was priced wrong and for what I got it for I couldn't pass it up.
 
I would love to buy local, but I really don’t have any dedicated knife shops around me. The closest one mostly sells junk and focuses on shows so is rarely ever open. The second closest is good, but about a 45 minute drive and is closed on the most convenient day for me.

That leaves me with large sporting goods stores, Walmart, or Bass Pro Shops, and those are either overpriced or have poor selection. I will add that I check out the Ace Hardware Knife section whenever I’m there. They have a few brands I like, but the Benchmade and Spyderco are like full retail.

So I guess that was a long winded way of saying about 90% of my buying is on the net.
 
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Where I lived up until June, there was a local “tactical supply” store that catered to military and had decent stock of ZT & BM with a small selection from a few other brands, generally at decent prices, at or sometimes a bit below MAP. If they had something I wanted in stock, they got my business.

Since moving, I have to choose between Cabellas (not a huge fan) and an Army Surplus store that is VERY well stocked with knives, but at MSRP! I like to spend local, but MSRP is kind of a gouge!

I now use online retailers for knives.
 
Not much point in it, as buying local around here pretty much means Cabela’s. But in my travels, I will sometimes come across a display of Case or Rough Rider, and will pick up one or two. In an Ace Hardware in Wisconsin I even came across a card of Frost Steel Warriors. To say they were the best Frosts I had seen would damn them by faint praise, but Still I got a couple.
 
I would buy local, if I could. I'd even pay some extra to have the chance to handle what I buy.

But they really give me no choice, online shopping is here to stay and as long as the real stores struggle to compete in prices and stock a lot more of them will go down in the future.

Sad but true.
 
I try to buy local first. If I can get what I want from a B&M, I'll pay more and do that. I'm lucky being in ATL. We have Going Gear in Smyrna, Olde Towne Cutlery in Cumming, Franklin's & Clyde Armory in Athens, and USI Sports Barn in Jasper. Those are all within a couple of hours from my house. KSF and The Knife Shoppe are no more than a day trip for me.
 
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