If you were starting a knife store.....?

Spyderco and Benchmade full line

Some of the higher end Buck's and their full line of Slipjoints

Some of the higher end Cammilus and thier full line of Slipjoints

Queen's full line

Case's full line

Some models from custom makers

Victorinox full line

Kershaw full line for $ concious folk

Blade Tech's Wegner folders

different knife maintenance items

and I'm not too familiar with fixed blades... but whatever suggestions others here have are probably good.

I think that's all.. I might be missing some companies though.
-Kevin
 
Wherever it was, I'd try to raise the bar. Be it guns, knives or motor vehicles, if you start out with lower priced stuff to cash in on every demographic, the big buyers don't come. They view you as a discount house an seek quality stuff from a different merchant.

Show the entry level guys fine stuff, educate them.
 
Benchmade full line
Spyderco full line
CRKT Full Line
Camillus, various pieces
SAK (victorinox) most of the line
SOG full line

Leatherman

Wusthof Trident
Forschner
Global

Sentry Solutions
Wiha driver and bits
Militec
DMT

I'd try to get AG Russell to let me sell some of his goodies too.

Phil
 
Hmmm. I could work a knife shop but there's no way I could own one. I'd put myself out of business in less than six months. I've never understood the idea of being a "dealer" to satisfy one's "addiction". And I'd hate to let something go especially if I don't have one already!:p

Dayuhan
 
I wouldn't even start one, too much competition.

Unless there was some special brand or other special thing that I can use to differentiate myself.
 
I would have carry the full line of all my favorites
Spyderco
Gerber
Benchmade
CRKT
Sog
Leatherman
Boker
Timberline
And I would carry part of some others like
Cold Steel
Meyerco
SAK
Linder
Buck
Berreta
The hard part would be keeping my hands off the invertory.
 
I would also look into Strider and Chris Reeve.

If it's an online store there is always a high demand for those two brands.
 
I would love to have a little knife business, but I would have a brick & mortar store. The reason for this is that I would rather deal face to face with my customers. I think that internet businesses are too impersonal. I would however have an internet division, because I don't think that a B & M store, other than in a few instances, will have a very hard time surviving in today's retail knife market.

I would be sure to carry lots of accessories like sharpeners, lubricants, rust preventatives, etc. I would also carry all kinds of books. For lines I would probably carry:

Queen/Schatt & Morgan
Buck
Spyderco
Randall, if possible.
Extrema Ratio
Benchmade
Fallkniven
Ontario
Martindale
William Henry
Schrade

Other possibilties would be Al Mar, SOG, Bark River, Marble's and if a store could carry Busse and Swamp Rat I would have them in a minute.

I would also carry a good selection of custom knives.
 
Tourist and I are on the same page!

I woud have some SAK and that type stuff and some good Benchamde/Spydie/CRKT stuff, but then higher ends stuff too. Sell the lower stuff to get fiolks turned on about how USEFUL a knife is, and educate 'em. Then they'll buy the higher end stuff. Even a bunch of Douk-Douks or some inexpensive knife that is "sharpened professionally at this fine show" would be a good intro to how knives are awesome EDC tools.

If it were my knife shop, I'd sell my knives too! I'm a hobby maker and I'd love to have a B&M knife shop as the faade to my real shop :)
 
In fact I AM starting a bricks and morter store in January, actually I am enlarging my existing showroom and adding factory product to my own line of knives.

Tourist has a point about keeping things higher up on the scale, I would rather be known for high quality instead of lowest price. With this in mind I am concentrating on finding quality product with good value for the dollar instead of the cheapest product.

Current lines lined up are Spyderco, Leatherman, DMT sharpeners, and a couple of others. Of course the store will feature Tichbourne Knives.

There is no way that I would even consider an internet operation given the give away tactics of some dealers, that is no way to try to earn a living.
 
I think a brick and mortar store should have classes on sharpening and also sell sharpeners. To some, this is a roadblock that, once learned, will add a lot more fun to getting a knife and may make Knife Knuts of the local population. That, and maybe a seminar on knife and edge selection for the right job. These are ways the B&M store will stand out from the restof the knife sellers, educate the community and also win hearts and minds.
 
Just about any good american brand (BM, Microtech, Spyderco, MOD...), as autos are allowed here to people over 18 and this fine US-stuff i soooo extremely hard to get.
 
Boink,

Instead of teaching sharpening, have that as a service to your customers.

When I sell a knife at the gun club they get it sharpened free forever. I have people buy their knives from me for the price and the sharpening service that comes with it while they own it.

I get 3.00 a knife [ hand sharpened, not on a grinder ]. They hand me a butter knife and get back a razor blade.

As to a store front and stocking items, kitchen cutlery for the women [ and they'll bring their knives in to be sharpened as well, full line of spyders, blade-techs, SAK's, Benchmades, and then have a section of ERs, Striders, some customs.

Don't forget the straight blades for the hunters like Case, etc. and then some of high end like Bagwells, Lameys, etc.

My opinion is the competition is way to stiff as others have mentioned. In looking at some of their prices advertised, they are making 5-10 dollars on a knife after shipping over what I can buy them for at dealer prices.

I have people bring me their wives kitchen knives 10-20 at a time at 2.00 per knife [ priced from 3 to 2.00 due to quantity ].

Brownie
 
widmn:

I'll use the accusharp to put a primary grind on the edge [ if it is a butter knife ], then go to the sharpmaker.

Now that I have the diamond rods for the sharpmaker, I may need the accusharp less often.

20 knives in just over an hour is normal.

My sharpmaker has done well over 10K knives in 10+ years. I replace the dark ceramics this year, the white ceramics look new.

Brownie
 
If I were to open a knife shop it would be a brick and mortar store. I would only carry quality knives, if I owuldn't buy it I wouldn't carry it. I think one of the biggest problems that I see with the stores that carry knives around me is that they carry mostly junk knives. I guess the idea is that most people don't know what a good knife is, and shop only by price.

For lower end(begining collectors):
CRKT
Spyderco
Benchmade
Kershaw
Buck

For upper end:
Spyderco
Benchmade
Microtech
Buck
Kershaw
Chris Reeve
Strider

Possibly some customs too.
 
For what it's worth, I've worked in nearly all aspects of retailing for most of my adult life. These days I work as an independent manufacturer's representative which means I get to see a lot of different types of retailers from the inside. I handle sales and wholesale distribution for 11 different factories for the Southwest US. This is in the hifi and home theater business, but most of the same principles apply. I deal mostly with smaller specialty driven independent dealers, but also have some interaction with e-tailers and even a bit with some large national chains. I understand the supply chain quite well from both the retailer's side as well as the supply side having spent many years in both.

DaveH is onto something. How are you going to differentiate your store? Will you offer better service? Lower prices? Greater selection? There has to be a compelling reason for people to seek you out in a market that is mature and already well populated.

The guys who recommend bringing in the full line of nearly every brand of note obviously have no practical experience managing inventory, or managing managing distribution channel relationships. Who are you going to buy inventory from? Do you have enough capital to make the initial inventory purchases and still be able to pay the bills for a year as most businesses don't become profitable the day tehy open? Do you hope to do enough business to purchase direct from the factories? Most factories have (sometimes steep)minimum initial buy-ins to become a dealer and annual sales goals to maintain the franchise. It's better to have a couple product lines and focus on them, than to try to carry every line and be a tiny dealer who is unimportant to any of your factories. If you're not big enough to be direct, then you'll be buying from distributors, who also have to make a profit, which means you'll likely pay a higher price than the guys who are factory direct, thereby giving you lower profit margins. This is even worse if you're business model is based on having the lowest prices. How many times per year do you think you can turn over your inventory? If you can't manage at least 6 turns per year, you might find it hard to keep the business going.

Not trying to rain on the parade here, I just wanted to point out some issues that might not have been considered yet. I've seen some smart guys try to turn a hobby into a business based more on their passion for the hobby, than their understanding of all that is required to run a succcessful retail operation. I've also seen some of them lose their homes in the process and it's a terribly sad thing to watch.

For me, I'd start with Victorinox, Leatherman, Benchmade and Chris Reeves. That would give you access to a good mix or products by reputable manufacturers with a wide range of prices.

Best of luck in your new adventure.

John
 
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