I would love to support local businesses, but...

bladerique said:
My local outdoors shop has a poor selection and high prices. If the store had only one of those characteristics, I might make a purchase now and then.
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Same here. I buy what I can through my place of employment, and usually I can get a better deal that way than online. But since our distributor only carries so many product lines (Buck, low-to-mid-end Kershaw, Gerber, and Schrade) I have to look elsewhere for a lot. And the closest thing we have to a knife shop here is a sporting goods/outdoors store that generally charges over MSRP, so that they can lower the price to MSRP and call it a sale.

Sorry, but I'd rather not help such a place stay in business.
 
wfochris said:
How can prices be less than wholesale?
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Wholesale pricing varies. What's wholesale price for heatondc could be higher/lower for another merchant, depending on how much they're buying/selling of the same product. Simply put, a single smaller business/company may have to pay higher wholesale prices than a larger company/chain, I believe.

Of course, there are other factors, but I think you can get the idea.
 
I haven't bought any local knives in awhile, but people I've brought along to the stores have bought some. They're people who aren't into knives and the internet as much as us and who had a lot more spare income than me.
 
I once bought a S&W Homeland Defense something or other for $49.99 from a store in town. I figured, "Oh, I'll just get a knife today rather than order online." I remember asking in the store if they could come down on the price, but they wouldn't budge. Then when I find out I could have ordered it online for $12 I was furious. I never even kept the receipt and they wouldn't do a refund or anything.

Last time I bought a knife in town without doing any research first. I've bought a Case Trapper and a Kershaw Needs Work both in town since then, but I overpaid each time--at least only by $10.

So I don't mind forking over a little extra to get it that day, but more and more I feel like most stores are just trying to sell for as high as they can, and they never budge at all on prices.
 
Chicago's Loop used to have about 6 knife stores. I don't think they have one left. The B&M stores seem to be pricing themselves out of business.
It's not just knives but watches cameras and other high end items. When I bought my Omega, the Internet price was lower than the employee price my cousin could get me at a jewelry store that she manages.
Some B&M stores have got to rethink their model.
 
I usually buy knives and multitools online, often based on internet reviews, the forums, etc. Sometimes when I really want to know how a knife feels and looks, I go to a shop and although they're asking a higher price, I'm willing to pay it, for their service and to support the shop. That's fine with me, since a lot of the stuff that I buy is pre-owned, but still in good to nearly new shape and costs half the price of a new item. So the balance is still in my advantage.
 
I'll pay up to about 25% more at local shops if I really want a knife. Beyond that I have difficulty justifying spending so much more. I was at a local store this past weekend and they had a custom priced at $1,000 that's priced at another store (that also has a brick and mortar shop) for $600.
 
I don't really have a local knife shop.

It's pretty much limited to whatever the sporting goods places have. Usually it's Gerber and low-end Buck. There's also some gun shops, but I think tactical knives are silly so that doesn't work either.

Some of the other sporting goods places might have some Kershaws or Benchmades. Most of it hasn't been to my interests, so I don't know how their prices compare.

There is an actual knife shop with good prices, but it's 40 miles of obnoxious city driving away. It would take hours and hours to get there if I got stuck in rush hour. Also, I'd spend more on gas than I would on shipping.

There used to be a knife shop at the local mall. Prices ranged from fair to WAY over MSRP. I think the knife shops at the other malls are the same franchise.
 
How much extra am I willing to pay?

The online price + shipping + 5-15 dollars. The extra $ is for convenience only. I am not a charity and if I were, I would donate my dollars to people who need it more.
 
I would but the local ones around here are a lot higher than what I can get online from good dealers.

So I would end up paying the gouged price plus 8% tax.....

So it ends up being one heck of a lot cheaper to buy online, even with overnight shipping if I want.

Do the math...
 
There are knife shops? Other than big box stores, I have nothing. An army surplus store here has some nice knives and there's another that has a lot of Ontario products...something one doesn't see in the big box stores. But as far as a "knife shop", I am not aware of one in the Indianapolis area.

Gun shops sell the big box brands (Buck, Gerber) and some Kershaw and lots of CRKT but that's about it.
 
There is one local shop and the prices are reasonable. I was out on the road at a location I frequent and the local sporting goods shop there had a Buck 110 for 79 dollars. This store was about a half mile from Wally World where it was $29. I just quietly walked away.

I try to balance internet purchases with B&M purchases but it gets hard.
 
Living in New Jersey there are no knife shops and the very few outdoor sporting goods stores that are left don't carry many knives. So I have to buy them on line and resell or return them if I don't like them losing around $20 each time at least and it has happened a LOT. It would be great to handle the knife first and know right away, I would pay a premium for that but
i don't have that option here.
 
Please do not place these types of threads in the discussion forum. The discussion forums are about knives not shopping experiences and thoughts on where to buy what.
 
I'm lucky when it comes to knives cause Spark's store is 2 minutes from my house. Maybe that' not lucky. I do impulse buy there a lot. :( I do try to support my local gun shop though. Some things are ok priced but I went to check out a Trijicon Accupoint 1-4 and they were like $200 over what I ended up paying online. I asked if they would meet meet halfway, but no go. Sorry, but that's too much for local loyalty.
 
If it is a big box store, and the prices are bad, I will not haggle. If it is a small shop, I will ask for a better price. A polite no is fine from either party.

Edgeworks in Frederick, MD has reasonable prices, not bad for a brick and mortar. He'll tell you flat out that he can't match online stores, because of his overhead, but he has good prices. Country Knives outside Lancaster, PA has prices that are MSRP or above, but is one of the top dealers in the country, and has a lot of discontinued knives, which often are placed on sale some time after they are discontinued. Willey Knives in Delaware has reasonable prices on some knives, for the most part their prices are pretty good. Whatever the market will bear. All three get tourist traffic through the stores.
 
I try to buy local as well if I can. Just this weekend though the family took a little trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Saw a local knife shop in downtown Gatlinburg, so I went in. I knew good and well that the prices would be higher. I was shocked at the cost of the knives. I just recently (as of last week) bought a Spyderco Endura with the Emerson Wave on it (60.00). They were asking 109.00 pre tax for it.

I was shocked, but what really turned me off was the Benchmade Balisongs that they had for 110.00 each (They were such bad clones). the girl swore to me that they were real, LMAO I was like um okay, thanks and have a great day! I'm sure they are getting unknowledge folks that would snap at the clones though.

A clone is one thing (I don't buy them), but to blantiantly say it's a real one and not a clone is another thing!
 
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