It's hard to justify buying from a local shop.

Not an American. And out of America, all knives sold at local stores are priced at above retail.

So for example, a CRKT Outrage which has an MSRP of $70, is sold at KnifeCenter for $45 but in my country's shops, it costs at least $73 - $75. So i'm basically paying a heck lot more than from of popular American online resellers.

But not all American online resellers ship to my country, and those that do have expensive shipping charges ($30 - $40 depending on quantity). Such misfortune..
 
I support my local shop 100% of the time when it comes to Spyderco, Benchmade, ZT, Microtech and CRK. If i'm after something he doesn't carry then i'll order online. I'm lucky though, he prices his stuff the same as Knifecenter and I have no problems paying the tax, I consider it the convenience fee.
 
The only three decent knife shops around me are all 30-45 minutes away.

Closest one is a Cabela's; an easy drive right off the interstate, and I go there somewhat regularly for certain things, maybe once a month, but the guy usually working the knife counter just rubs me the wrong way; older gent, a "mountain man" type, who tries to talk down to me, maybe because I'm younger (and look younger then I am), maybe because I come off as "city folk", but he's always just trying to push the sale and comes off like he knows more then anybody else, rather then simply engaging in an actual conversation. IDK, i typically don't even look at the knives when I go there anymore.

The Bass pro which is further and in the other direction is just a logistical nightmare by comparison due to the potential traffic to get there, facing the busy local traffic. I only go there if I have to be out that way already for something else. If I'm passing by and have the time, I'll stop in.

Both are big box corporate America and not mom and pop shops. Both have high price tags unless there is a crazy sale going on. Factor in the time, the gas, and the vehicle wear and tear just to get there, it's just not worth it to me.

The 3rd is a mom and pop shop, pleasant little place with a decent inventory to boot, farthest at 50-60 minutes, but a nice country drive most of the way. They also have a website, but not members here, however ALL of their inventory is MSRP. Hard to justify buying anything new at msrp when every major online retailer is competing with each other with lower prices. However, as a small business off the beaten trail catering to a niche community, they also have some harder to find and discontinued models in their inventory, and they are also listed at msrp, not jacked up.
If it was $100 msrp when everyone sold it for $65, it's still listed at $100 after it's discontinued, when everyone else is trying to flip them for $300 as a "hard to find".
I do wish the 3rd option was closer, even for the prices it is my favorite to go to.
 
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palonej said:
I’m in NJ and there is not one single knife store anywhere around me.
If there were, they would get 90% of my business........IF prices weren’t ridiculous and the service was good.
I think it’s worth a few extra bucks to be able to ‘test drive’ before you buy.
Joe
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Yes sir , I agree all the way. I wish there was a local knife shop near me.
 
We are very fortunate to have a great little brick and mortar store in town. I buy from them, but I admit that I will buy online when I want something they don’t carry or can’t get. The owner knows he is competing with ecommerce so he is usually able to match online pricing. He also provides a sharpening service, great customer service and a good conversation when you stop by for a visit. What’s not to like about that?
 
You should develop a relationship with your brick and mortar store. The one I go to has the map pricing listed online and in store. If I buy online that's what I'm paying - map. If I go in store I get a 10% discount. Having developed a relationship with the owner and employees, they know what I'm interested in. If they have too much stock of something that's not selling well, they will often throw a number (below map) at me. You don't get that online. And of course there is the ability to check out the knives in person.
 
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Not hard to justify at all! If holding that particular knife in your own hands before you buy it, meeting like minded people in person and spending some time with them, one on one customer service, expert advice and personally seeing details instead of youtube videos is more valuable to you than a couple of dollars. If extended face to face customer service means more to you than emails with someone you may or may not know their first name.
We have a supporting member of the forums and one of the best local brick & mortar shops you'll find anywhere, right here in the Charlotte area with USA Made Blades.
Yes, not hard to justify at all.
 
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OddBlade said:
Not hard to justify at all! If holding that particular knife in your own hands before you buy it, meeting like minded people in person and spending some time with them, one on one customer service, expert advice and personally seeing details instead of youtube videos is more valuable to you than a couple of dollars. If extended face to face customer service means more to you than emails with someone you may or may not know their first name.
We have a supporting member of the forums and one of the best local brick & mortar shops you'll find anywhere, right here in the Charlotte area with USA Made Blades.
Yes, not hard to justify at all.
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I could't say it any better than this! We have a store in town that is locally owned. Always welcome there even if just to browse and shoot the breeze. A hardware store about 20 miles away is a Case dealer with a pretty good selection. They know knives and it's always pleasant to shop there and talk about the subject. I'm OK with paying a bit more to support a local business and to handle a knife before buying.
 
Sears Roebuck was the first successful "online" (catalog) store. They saw a market in rural America and they provided good products and service with items primarily shipped through the USPS. Montgomery Wards and JC Penny followed. Herters came along to provide stuff to the outdoors sporting market and Gander Mountain, Bass Pro and Cabelas pretty much killed them. Loved the Herters catalog and everything was the "best".... kind of like Diluth Trading these days for mostly clothing. Strip malls appeared outside the downtown areas of cities and then indoor malls in the 60's. Strip malls have changed to mostly speciality stores. Now we have superstores and the big online retailer. There is an evolution in retail and customers are finicky. Buying many things can mostly only be done online for a lot of us these days as brick & mortar stores mostly stock stuff that sells quickly. That usually means cheap stuff or stuff priced at full retail or above retail.

My experience with knives started long ago drolling over Case branded knives at the local hardware store and Imperial branded knives at the local 5&10. Schrade (Old Timer and Uncle Henry) were a step up or several steps up (I believed). Maybe I was just young, but people didn't think price price price then. It was service and relationships. People appreciated that they could buy product local. When Dad needed a stove or refrigerator, he didn't look at some catalog and have the stuff shipped. He bought it local and the local merchants appreciated them. The merchandising world is changing and has changed. That includes buying knives for the majority of us.

With knives I still buy about 75% face to face at either shows or a brick & mortar store. Sportsman Warehouse is the only local merchant in my area that sells a reasonable selection of knives (at slightly higher prices vs online but below Bass Pro or Cabelas pricing) other than the Sevierville TN super knife store. Sevierville is about a 2 hour drive without traffic slowdowns. I really enjoy visiting that big knife store in Sevierville. But visiting is an event for me, not something I do more than a couple times a year. But I feel I'm fortunate that I can visit several times a year. Many who visit the Smoky Mt NP will stop and shop. People complain about their prices .... I can buy cheaper online.... high sales TN sales tax.... but you can't handle it online before you buy. Some here have voiced opinions about buying online and returning them with the interpretation being the returned knives are now "used" same as buying a car at a car dealer and driving it off their lot even though you can test drive them and they still are considered "new".

If I buy from the big river site, I pay state sales tax. No difference from local purchases and I have to pay shipping for the most part. As mentioned, I understand that most online sales will be subject to sales tax at the time of the sale in 2019 (mentioned earlier). This will level the playing field and probably ultimately a good thing for consumers and the retail industry does another reshuffle.

Knives or cutlery in general is a specialty market, especially for the higher end stuff. My crystal ball tells me that you will see more MAP pricing from manufacturers. Maybe at some point people will begin to appreciate that they can buy a ZT, Benchmade or whatever branded knife local rather than a catalog store (online).
 
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I have no problem paying a slight mark up to handle a knife first, support a local business and get the knife instantly. However, I’m not going to pay an outrageous price. I live in Western Pa and there are no local cutlery establishments. Most sporting goods and gun shops carry more Gerber type knives rather than quality blades.
My only real option is to buy online.
 
It's easy for me to justify buying local because I like to handle what I buy before paying for it. I pay a little more generally for the knives. I also do not mind paying state sales tax very much as my state does not have an income tax.

I resist ordering firearms because I feel that once the dealer gets the gun, you have committed to buying that specific gun regardless of whether you like it or not at that point. The same applies to online knife sales..... unless there is a defect, you own it. Live with it!
 
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Another great thing about some local shops is you can go in and trade. I love going to the knife shop in Lakeland Fl and taking some stuff I am not using and walking out with some new to me cutlery.
I have also scored some great deals on older stuff that other folks had traded in.
 
I live in a small town 60 miles from Denver. Local resources are slim and every purchase helps fund things we need here such as roads, emergency services, libraries, and schools. It's all fungible in the city and county budget process so if we had a local knife store, I'd shop there.

The last knife I bought from a shop was at a hardware store in Arizona. Having flown carry-on that day, I needed a pocketknife. I was glad they had a substantial SAK selection. I didn't begrudge them taxes or markup. I was glad they were there. And in my grandfather's day, there were no knife shops to speak of. Hardware stores and bait shops are where everyone got their knives.

Zieg
 
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The only places, that I know of, around me are big box, an army surplus store and some regulars at the flea market.
The army surplus doesn't seem to know much and sells quite a few of the $10 mtech and flame & skull autos. I'm also starting to think their Spyderco are fake.

What I'd really like is a directory of all the local knife shops and places that sell knives. It would have to be like a Wikipedia page where anyone could edit to keep it accurate but I'm sure there has to be somewhere else nearby that I just don't know of.
 
08005117-7847-4F4A-874F-77915BD9D4C3.jpeg I live in London [England], the nearest knife shop selling anything other than kitchen knives is right on the edge of London, practically not in the city at all. If I wanted to visit a really good shop, it would require travelling over the border into Wales.

There is a motion soon to be put to parliament whereby it will become illegal to sell knives online, in which case most of us will well and truly be shafted, not to mention the majority of UK sellers and custom makers who only sell online. Don’t ask me more, I might just weep.

It is highly likely I will have to start making more trips into Wales, but I can always combine it with nights outdoors; Wales has some good, deep countryside.

It might have something to do with the explosion of knives used in ISIS attacks this year; there is a trial ongoing of a couple, and one of the key points in the case against the wife is that she first argued against her husband buying a £500 knife, but in the end she compromised and bought him a CS for £300: image above.

Ho hum. Enjoy your B&M shops.
 
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palonej said:
I’m in NJ and there is not one single knife store anywhere around me.
If there were, they would get 90% of my business........IF prices weren’t ridiculous and the service was good.
I think it’s worth a few extra bucks to be able to ‘test drive’ before you buy.
Joe
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Hey Joe. I'm also in NJ. I don't know what part you are in, but if you are close to Fairfield there is Cutlery Mania. OMG......awesome store. Friendly helpful people that know knives. Also just over the northern border in Port Jervis NY is JT's Knife Shop. JT is very knowledgeable, and a real nice guy. Both shops have a generous selection of all the top brands, and are competitive with online retailers. Hope this helps.
 
Mark me up for another "GWN" northerner. I am fortunate to have at least two retailers in Ottawa, Cabela's that I have bought a couple knives from and a place called Kutter's that I also have bought knives from, mostly Benchmades. The price difference is only around 10-20 bucks between local and W&W from out in B.C. (Warriors and Wonders really do have an extensive selection) so the shipping costs kind of make up for the difference.

Unfortunately, locally Spyderco is nowhere to be found, so if/when I want to try them, I will have to buy online, however CCs and me have a very bad history and I only like buying with cash so Spyderco will have to wait awhile.
 
Pilsner said:
View attachment 788999 I live in London [England], the nearest knife shop selling anything other than kitchen knives is right on the edge of London, practically not in the city at all. If I wanted to visit a really good shop, it would require travelling over the border into Wales.

There is a motion soon to be put to parliament whereby it will become illegal to sell knives online, in which case most of us will well and truly be shafted, not to mention the majority of UK sellers and custom makers who only sell online. Don’t ask me more, I might just weep.

It is highly likely I will have to start making more trips into Wales, but I can always combine it with nights outdoors; Wales has some good, deep countryside.

It might have something to do with the explosion of knives used in ISIS attacks this year; there is a trial ongoing of a couple, and one of the key points in the case against the wife is that she first argued against her husband buying a £500 knife, but in the end she compromised and bought him a CS for £300: image above.

Ho hum. Enjoy your B&M shops.
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wow. what are that bills chances of being law? im gonna assume it will pass and stick?

how about shipping folders into the uk? still a no go? got a friend in the midlands who we share xmas gifts every year or so. want to send him a buck 110, but i hear its a bad idea being a lockback. true....? thanks.
 
Frailer said:
Additionally, the ability to handle several examples of a model and select the one I want is worth something to me.
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I think most people don't realize how different several examples of a particular model could feel. It is counter-intuitive that the same factory made knife can have such a different feel across samples. I learned that only by buying a bunch of Cold Steel Laredo Bowies online. I have favorites, and some are better than others.
 
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