How many of you try to buy local?

There aren't many knife shops near me and even if there were, I don't know if I would be ready to shell out the extra money to buy local when I can go online and save up to 30$. Recently I was looking to buy a north fork, and that particular knife is one that I am willing to buy at a premium if I get to check the fit and finish and also choose the wood grain on the handles. I was planning on going to an REI to pick out the knife, but they had to order it and ship it to the store which would defeat the purpose of going to the store. I ended up getting a great deal off amazon on the knife and went with that, because I didn't feel like it was worth the trouble of going to a store only to have them send out for a knife. Just crossing my fingers that I get a good Benchmade north fork with scales I like
 
Won’t buy knives local. The brick and mortar stores just want too much money for their nice knives. I get all mine from BHQ. That being said, I buy any and all guns locally.
 
I try and hold off on buying regular production knives online and see what my nearest dealer (3-3.5 hours away) has in stock. Anytime I'm up that way and have the time I like to stop.

Exclusives and hard to get knives (E.G. Smock/Spydiechef) I buy online.
 
I try to support local business in general, and even more particularly small business whenever I can. However there simply aren't many good knife store options in the area I live. Honestly, rather than purchase from a corporate store locally, I would prefer to buy from one of the online knife retailers that support the hobby anyway. If there were any local knife stores that were cool around me I would gladly support them though.
 
I’m really lucky because there’s a very good shop in my area. They carry Reate, ZT, Benchmade, Al Mar, Chris Reeve, Winkler, Emerson, Spartan, and others that aren’t registering in my head right now.

They also have shelves full of dozens of customs. The customs run from $500 - $35,000. They have a lot of less expensive customs so the money suck continues.

The company also operates three different online stores that you will recognize if you buy Blade or Knife Illustrated.

Half the business is culinary and I don’t know anything about cooking. There sure are a lot of expensive beautiful damascus blades.

Anyway, I got lucky having this store in my backyard. Blah blah blah...
 
I try to when I can or in the area. I'm a about an hour north from Columbus Ohio where I can see the guys at REC. And I used to live about 15min away from a brick and mortar store when I lived in northern Kentucky. And I buy guns local always because they are everywhere.

I also try to help out some of the smaller bf vendors as well when I do shop online. Not only do they support us(bladeforums), but it's supporting people who do what they love and their families, but helps helps follow their dreams as well. Same goes for the custom services offered here.
 
I'm actually in the market for a new Buck 110 and won't be buying that one on-line. Not sure yet who will get my biz as those models tend to be everywhere. The local Coastal has a pretty good selection of the Buck and Case models that sell pretty well, not much of the specialty stuff.

I'm with pretty much everyone else, I'd really prefer to keep my $$ local and do when I can even if I pay a few extra bucks. I definitely try to purchase my firearms local even if they have to order and I pay a 'local' upcharge. It would be cool if there was a place like Davidson's but with knives instead of guns, where you could purchase on-line using a local retailer as the broker and have it delivered to them for pick-up. They get a small cut for the processing, win-win.
 
I bought a number of knives over the past couple of years from the only dedicated knife store (that I am aware of) in Ottawa. However, I guess I didn't buy enough from him as this past November he went out of business. Too bad really even though some of his prices were a little out of whack, it was nice to hold in hand a knife I was interested in buying.
I shouldn't be surprised though as pocket knives are somewhat of a rarity in these parts.
 
Wowbagger said:
....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.
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That exact thing happened with a revolver I had a gun shop order.... call, nothing, call, nothing..... so I was nearby and dropped by the store about a month later and my gun was sitting inside the glass display case. I introduce myself and ask, is that the one I ordered? Blank expression..... I bought that gun that day and never went back to that shop again. At that time I was buying a pretty fair number of guns annually... they lost me permanently as a customer for anything..... they later went out of business. Wonder why if my experience was typical?

I thoroughly love to browse the big knife store in Sevierville TN. I can spend hours there as they have a significant selection. Always buy stuff. It is a 2.5 hr drive for me and I only allow myself a couple visits a year even if I am close by on the interstate and have time. Would love to visit Spark's shop in Louisville KY but I don't get up that way often.
 
I appreciate buying local and will do my best to visit my local shop whenever possible.

Especially with fabric and wood inlays. I'm also a stickler for blade centering. Can beat holding in hand and knowing EXACTLY what your gonna get. I will pay extra for this.
 
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I buy knives from the local hardware here and there because I like supporting them and not having to wait, but they're running out of knives I want.
 
We have one gun shop in town that carries Benchmade and that’s about it other than low end stuff.

The next town over has a surplus store that carries CS, Kershaw, ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco and Victorinox. Plus a few other brands.

I want to buy from this guy but he makes it hard. One time he said that he would not sell the display model. Another time he was about 40% higher than the online price. That is just to much of a price difference to ignore.

If the knife I want was a recently dropped model, he can’t be bothered to even try to order it.

Maybe I have to high of expectations when it comes to customer service but, I am not commuting out of town just to walk into a business and be treated like dirt.

I live an hour drive from California’s state capital and San Francisco. I’m just not finding many decent knife retailers. You think I would find tons of them.
 
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I wish I had more brick and mortar stores that sold quality knives near me... the limited selection I do have is very sparse and expensive.
 
I generally don't buy local. I can't justify paying MSRP or higher when I can buy the same or even better product online from a reputable dealer. It has to be a really good price and/or an exclusive, LE, or difficult to find knife.
 
I dont think ive ever bought a knife over 40 bucks locally. The deals on here are just too good. I really cant justify paying full price at a sportmans warehouse or a local gun store.
 
Local gun stores are all Benchmade all the time. Not my thing. All of my knife purchases are online.
 
If I see a knife I want at a flea market or garage sale, sure, I'll pick it up if the price is right. Plus I can talk them down a fiver or two. I rarely, if ever, buy from a major retailer. After all the great experiences I've had from KnifeCenter.com, that is my go to place for new knives.
 
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sabre cat said:
We have one gun shop in town that carries Benchmade and that’s about it other than low end stuff.

The next town over has a surplus store that carries CS, Kershaw, ZT, Benchmade, Spyderco and Victorinox. Plus a few other brands.

I want to buy from this guy but he makes it hard. One time he said that he would not sell the display model. Another time he was about 40% higher than the online price. That is just to much of a price difference to ignore.

If the knife I want was a recently dropped model, he can’t be bothered to even try to order it.

Maybe I have to high of expectations when it comes to customer service but, I am not commuting out of town just to walk into a business and be treated like dirt.

I live an hour drive from California’s state capital and San Francisco. I’m just not finding many decent knife retailers. You think I would find tons of them.
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I feel you pain, haven't had any luck finding any good knife retailers either
 
I buy online and thru exchanges.

The prices around me are horrible. There is a Cabelas about 45 mins south but their prices aren't great either.

20 years ago when I really started getting into knives, I bought several Bark Rivers in an effort to support a MI maker. BR has had some issues over the years and I've sold most of them off. I'm down to one Bravo 1.25.
 
I think being in Chicagoland is part of the reason prices are so high. One lgs all prices are inflated over MSRP. Being the only gun store in 15 miles also allows that. I was at their range about 10 years ago, decided to look at their knives as they had a good selection. $300 for a ZT 0200. No thanks.

I was at another store and range recently, and decided to look at their selection, which was small. While their firearm, ammo, and accessories are priced fairly, knives are not. No way am I paying $375 for a Microtech utx-70.
 
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