Net or local shop???

Other than Walmart, Gander Mountain and Dicks Sporting Goods, and the occassional gun store that sells good stuff (rare in MD and PA), the only two stores I know of that sell knives are one in Frederick, MD that I haven't visited before, Chesapeake Knife and Tool at the White Marsh Mall near Baltimore, and Country Knives outside of Lancaster PA. Most of the gun shows are way too expensive also.

Chesapeake Knife and Tool's prices are extravagant, and the staff is not knowledgeable. The staff at Country Knives are the owners and their family, and while they are knowledgeable, their prices are at least 25% above the MSRP in the Moteng and Blue Ridge books, you could buy the pieces for less straight from the manufacturer. Yeah, I've bought stuff full price from both stores, but I didn't know any better, and I had the "gottas" (gotta have it).

Dicks has some good models, mostly multi tools. Walmarts selection might be good for the average knife buyer, but not for me. Gander mountain, at least the one in York PA, had a Benchmade Outbounder, which I bought, some Grohmanns, which I wanted to get, some Spydercos, Kabars, etc. I was up there recently, all they had were low end Bucks, lots of Gerber, low end CRKT and some low end Kershaw. No more good stuff.

I go to the local flea markets sometimes, because somebody running a table will have a Benchmade, or a Spyderco, or a good old knife for sale cheap. The only brick and mortar store I go to isn't a brick and mortar store, but a shed at a farmers market in Shrewsbury PA, run by a retired steel worker. When I first visited his shed, he was selling off parts of his collection. Some real nice pieces. He's sold off most of his original stuff, and has been buying junk from Bud K and Blue Ridge, and selling that to the locals. He tried selling brand name productions, like CRKT, Buck, Kershaw and SOG, but they didn't move. He's had stuff sitting down there for the past three years, in great shape, but nobody wanted it. He makes a living selling the junk though. I sometimes order el cheapo brand name stuff from him, he gives a 10% discount. I know, I know, big deal, but he's a good guy.

Other than him, I buy here in the exchange, on Knifeforums, on Jerzeedevil and on eBay. Since I dug a little credit card hole for myself, I've chopped those up, and will only use them when I can't write a money order. I've ordered before from 1SKS, Crocblades, Smokey Mountain (although they have no selection anymore), Copsplus, etc. Better prices than the brick and mortar stores, but I don't mind buying used if I can.
 
I bought all my knives online, except Wal-Mart’s Native.
If I would have, local stores like New Graham Knives, (yesterday I bought Ares from them and they are really great people) or gpknives certainly, I would use them, but I do not have.
R
 
Seems as though everyone has an answer for saving money. I own and operate a small storefront business in a town of approximately 4000 population. Rent, phone, electricity, insurance, and a few other expenses to keep the shop open are over $1000.00 per month. That is not counting wages, bank fees & interest on the initial loan to open up the shop, monthly credit card fees, operating capital, refunds, returns, defective items that you lose out on 100%. Local, parish (county), and state licensing fees, inventory fees, and if you are late on paying any payments there is a late charge and sometimes penaly fees and interest applied. How do you purchase an item for $8.00 and sell it for $10.00? How many items do you have to sell to pay for all the monthly expenses? I have wanted to move 25 miles to a larger city but the cheapest rent is $1200.00 per month for a small facility. The mall there is asking $4.00 per square foot for rent, a million dollars liability insurance paid in full even before they will start talking with you. I deal with customers daily that rant and rave about Wal Mart, etc. I know my business, am friendly, knowledgeable of my products, and have somewhat competitive pricing. Wal Mart sells their product cheaper than what I pay wholesale. Then add very high shipping to that (since hurricane Katrina shipping has gone sky high) and guess what? Yep, I see more and more going to Wally World and purchasing from there. I do things that Wal Mart can't (CAN'T) do. I repair knives, sand or bead blast, regrind tips and blades, repair handles, spray on tef-moly coatings, and sharpen blades to razor blade sharpness. You won't find that at the big stores. For what it's worth, mom and pop stores have a difficult time now a days. Some are good, some are not so good.
 
I was ordering only online but I recently "found" a brick & mortar with very competitive pricing, Grand Prairie Knives across the river in Illinois. From what I understand, they do a booming web business but also have a large B&M retail front.

There is a slight discount if you buy online due to the extra expense of customer service while in store: I believe that premium for buying instore-retail is only about 2-3%. It is more than worth it to me to be able to handle the knives... It has definitely made be NOT buy knives online that I planned to and instead leave with a different model.

I'm not saying their business model is "right" "wrong" whatever... only that it seems to work well for them and I now try to support them in lieu of other online vendors or Wal-mart, etc.

As an example, the only other places in town that carry BM, Spyderco, etc offer them at only retail or, in the case of the chain Mil-Surplus Stealership in town, HIGHER THAN RETAIL! I was stoked to find gpknives as a great local alternative!
 
bayouknives said:
Seems as though everyone has an answer for saving money. I own and operate a small storefront business in a town of approximately 4000 population. Rent, phone, electricity, insurance, and a few other expenses to keep the shop open are over $1000.00 per month. That is not counting wages, bank fees & interest on the initial loan to open up the shop, monthly credit card fees, operating capital, refunds, returns, defective items that you lose out on 100%. Local, parish (county), and state licensing fees, inventory fees, and if you are late on paying any payments there is a late charge and sometimes penaly fees and interest applied. How do you purchase an item for $8.00 and sell it for $10.00? How many items do you have to sell to pay for all the monthly expenses? I have wanted to move 25 miles to a larger city but the cheapest rent is $1200.00 per month for a small facility. The mall there is asking $4.00 per square foot for rent, a million dollars liability insurance paid in full even before they will start talking with you. I deal with customers daily that rant and rave about Wal Mart, etc. I know my business, am friendly, knowledgeable of my products, and have somewhat competitive pricing. Wal Mart sells their product cheaper than what I pay wholesale. Then add very high shipping to that (since hurricane Katrina shipping has gone sky high) and guess what? Yep, I see more and more going to Wally World and purchasing from there. I do things that Wal Mart can't (CAN'T) do. I repair knives, sand or bead blast, regrind tips and blades, repair handles, spray on tef-moly coatings, and sharpen blades to razor blade sharpness. You won't find that at the big stores. For what it's worth, mom and pop stores have a difficult time now a days. Some are good, some are not so good.
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bayouknives

Welcome to the forums.

Sometimes business is tough, I am working in manufacturing for 28 years and 4 million jobs in this field lost to China and India, and these jobs are not coming back.
Some of the best, in my opinion, online stores, like NGK and GPKNIVES have real stores, where prices most likely the same.
We have to compete. Stay sharp.
Small business is hard
R
 
i look at knives at cutting edge in round rock tx all the time, rarely buy knives from them, though i have got a couple, on some stuff, ie spyderco and CRKT they arent badly priced, BM and MT are pretty high though, i dont feel bad about it i buy lotsa stuff from 'em, just not many knives.
 
spheenx said:
No way, local shops need to get with the times and price there stuff accordingly. Thankfully there are a few shops that actually are worth my time...shops such as grand prairie knives or new grahm(of course they also have online sales as well). Supporting local business is good for the economy, but I will always seek out the best deal, whether it's online or a brick and mortor shop.
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BS.. Total BS
Lemme 'splain something to you.
Most of these " onliners" live in a box some where and ship, or drop ship.
A good knife, or anything else company, in your neighborhood, is well worth the extra $30.. or whatever $$ just to support your area and have a REAL person top help you out.

It's a thing called " overhead"
My electric is $2400 a month. My Taxes are $13,500 a year.
I provide a valuable service to my customers.
If they buy a fish from EBoy and it kills their whole pond ? I just laugh and tell them to F.O.

Be loyal to your neighbor.. but demand a " reasonable" price... It wont be an EBoy price.
 
I work for a small computer store (5 employees) and our local nemisis is Best Buy. I will tell you one of the greatest challenges is if someone comes in and says "I can buy that $30 cheaper on the net." I mean, murder is illegal, but can't I make an exception for this asshole? If I just talked to you for 10 minutes helping you understand something about your computer and what product you need, and you want to go buy it somewhere else, fine... you're a douche bag. But having the audacity to stand there and say "the net's got it cheaper." Is just incredibly insulting. We don't price our products the way we do because we're trying to screw people, or roll around in the enormous amounts of money we bring in :jerkit: We price products so we can pay bills and continue to exist. Sorry for the rant... its a subject close to my heart. The short version is: if you go to the store to handle / learn about knives and they have what you want, you should buy from them (obviously don't pay a $75 markup, but $30 is reasonable).
 
Blammo, welcome to the forums. Your reply seems somewhat directed to New Graham and GP...neither of us are "onliners living in a box".
We (New Graham) have been in business 71 years. Same building on the same corner in the same town. I have been here 32 of those years.
We have thousands of knives sitting on our shelves. We are open 7 days a week. Of 26 employees, 4 are dedicated to the internet knife side of the business with the other 22 available to open cases, etc. We offer the same price, walk-in or internet. If that makes me a scavenger, or low-baller or whatever, well I rekon it is so. We recognized in 1998 that the internet was here to stay. We recognized that to remain a viable entity in the knife business, we would have to become competatively priced with even the "onliners living in a box".
We support BF.com financially, we support knife publications with advertisments, we support Blade Show as a sponsor. We try to give back to the community that supports us. Most other stand-up business do the same to one degree or another.
The internet has opened a large market to us, but it is not for the faint of heart. I do not see other online knife businesses as the enemy. They keep me honest through healthy free market competition. As a side note, I make out like a bandit on my knife sales compared to the <10% GROSS profit margins I am experiencing in the Pharmacy side of my business...and selling/talking knives is a lot more FUN
md
 
I don't feel any loyalty to any knife shops, but if I go and handle knives at one I will always purchase something before I leave. I just think it is wrong to use a B&M store to try out knives when you have no intention of buying there.
 
Michael, I commend your transition to an online e-tailer. Did you really build your business to that level from local business? Or is a great deal of your money coming from online sales? I just haven't seen a lot of stores like knife stores that would have a fairly small market be able to build their business from only local folks. Also, you can certainly appreciate the challenge of a small business owner whose knife orders are for 1-3 dozen knives at a time compared to the volume discounts your store can command.
 
Oily, I guess you could call Tom Clinton a knife nut ;)

He's the biggest volume Randall dealer in the midwest and possibly period. His table is the only table which will cause me to set foot in the IL Collector's Arms Dealer show. His shop was a neat find and I was pretty happy to find him as well.

I've bought local, paid a little more and been happy, or as happy as I am likely to be with an impulse buy. However, the majority of what I purchase will not be available at the local surplus store nor will it be available thru the mega-lo-mart either.

I think the biggest issue for me is that I like custom knives, specific makers at that, and they are hard to come by.

I'm just curious, how many of you guys who are whining about the $10 or $30 price tag are buying customs, made by one guy by hand? If you can find a custom made by someone whose work you really want, and the price is let's say 30% over maker's list, but the wait time is two to three years, would you buy that knife?

I passed on a knife for sale at Corrado Cutlery in 1998 or 1999 - the knife was retailing then for about $360 and not much more now. Corrado had the knife in the case for $500 or so, and that set me off some. However, as I got more familiar with the maker's work and realized the rarity of the piece, it became apparent that the knife was not overpriced - it was a hard to find blade in a downtown Chicago brick and mortar shop. Moreover, the location and reputation of the store commanded respect for the wares sold.

Unfortunately, Corrado was unable to keep their doors open after nearly 100 years as a knife business and they closed doors. They were was a serious anachronism and I miss them. Corrado was where I bought my first Masters of Defense folder, at their store in Old Orchard Mall, a really upscale and pricey bit of retail real estate. Corrado had the pull to obtain the MOD Hornet the week the knives were debuted in Tac Knives magazine and were rare birds indeed. It was the first folder I paid $159 for and was worth that price. I caried that knife for a long time and regret trading it off, but the net discounted it to the point where the value of the knife was not even close to what was paid.

I don't bemoan the net at all - it is a perfect example of a free market. I've taken full advantage of that market. However, the Darwinian aspects of the market are not always going to prolong the market in ways we would like to see.

Mike, I'm glad to see you have found a way to stay competitive in the market.
 
When I had a local knife store - I was living in the Triangle, in NC - I shopped, fondled, and bought there. Here in central PA, there's pretty much nothing within a ninety minute drive - I shop online because I really don't have a choice.

But even there, I try to support "real" stores. There are places I've dealt that have excellent customer service, talk to me on the phone, bend over backwards - and I deal with them, even if their online price is five bucks higher than a Froogle search turns up.
 
Ethies, New Graham Knives is only a small part of our business....probably 15% total volume. We are not a big outfit. Not looking to be a big outfit either.
Once we get to a certain size, I would be forced into managment only and then loose the joy of the knife business. I like looking at the new models, and comparing them to others...it is plain fun. Talking with other knife nuts is much more relaxing than talking insurance to a patient whose prescription card does not work. And the liability selling sharp things is much less than filling prescriptions....but, still, the pharmacy is the main part of our business.
That said, my heart is in the knife side....no denying that.
(edited to spell you name correctly)
 
Dealing with NGK is great. I only wish you were my B+M store it would only be better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE you looking to open a Florida branch?????? One can dream.
 
inspecto said:
Dealing with NGK is great. I only wish you were my B+M store it would only be better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE you looking to open a Florida branch?????? One can dream.
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That brings me to this idea.

Can we get a list together of brick&mortar shops that sell prods, customs and otherwise for each state?

If everybody submits the shops they know about in each state we could have a nice resource for those looking. I don't mean Walmarts/Home Depots, etc; but the REAL knife shops.

Might need to start its own thread to be highly visible. I'll take on revisions if noone else wants to. Let me know.
 
Parker said:
Oily, I guess you could call Tom Clinton a knife nut ;)

He's the biggest volume Randall dealer in the midwest and possibly period. His table is the only table which will cause me to set foot in the IL Collector's Arms Dealer show. His shop was a neat find and I was pretty happy to find him as well.
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Parker,
The Tom I'm talking about owns the store (Tom's Cutlery) here in Rockford, the Tom you're talking about is a town over IIRC in Belvedere(sp?). BUT... Tom Clinton's brother Terry does work at Tom's Cutlery and does some very good Scrimshawing and even builds an occasional knife. Ya, it's wierd.;)

later,

oil
 
The store to go to when in Tucson is Bladerunner Knives. Like PLANTERZ said the prices are near internet prices. He does not carry everything so I have made a couple online purchases.He has, or can get, 90% of my needs. I have however "stolen" two custom knives from Richard, owner of Bladerunner, at his behest of course. I won't tell you who but they were two well known makers and I was very happy. Richard has first dibs on them both if I decide to sell.....I won't!:p
 
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