Paragon Sportinggoods in NYC

L

Lucky Bob

Joined
Mar 31, 2006
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Has a really impressive array of knives, despite not even being a gun shop, let alone a knife shop!

Full array of Spydies (including Yojimbo and Dodo), BM, Al Mar, Kershaw, and, believe it or not, EMERSON! I actually handled my first Emerson! Didn't wanna freak anybody out by trying out the Wave, the guy who was handing me knives (knew NADA, but at least admitted it, don't go if you don't know what you want) was bored/irritated enough.

Still... Farkin' EXPENSIVE! $70 for a Sharpmaker, so I think I'll do my trying there, and my shopping online. :cool:
 
They also have a real good selection of customs, but like all of NYC they are overpriced. But it is a good place to go and handle a knife to see if you like it.
 
Truuuly over priced! But they have an excellent selection. BM, Spyderco, MT, EKI, CRK and fantastic customs but I know their pricing structure and they certainly shoot for full retail if not higher on some items.
 
Living in NY as long as I did I never heard of them until a few years ago. I see their ad in BladeMag, but the website says nothing about knives. I gotta get down there.
 
RDT said:
Truuuly over priced! But they have an excellent selection. BM, Spyderco, MT, EKI, CRK and fantastic customs but I know their pricing structure and they certainly shoot for full retail if not higher on some items.
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MT? MicroTech? Don't they make switchblades (didn't see none of THOSE there, considering NY's an auto-illegal state.) Didn't see any CRKs there either, would've loved to handle a sebenza!
 
GFarrell3 said:
Living in NY as long as I did I never heard of them until a few years ago. I see their ad in BladeMag, but the website says nothing about knives. I gotta get down there.
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When it comes to knives, their website sucks!

I was there just last week. Prices definitely at or above retail. Very good selection as always. Ironically, they don't have any of the new Waved Enduras or Delicas in stock. :confused:
 
CRK's are in the custom display. They sell MT's in manual action only.
 
The production knives are overpriced.

As far as the customs go, they usually have a very nice selection.
If you can find the guy who is responsible for the customs (rather than just a clerk)--he can usually pull a few out of the safe as well.

The prices are usually higher than you will pay at one of the good internet custom sites. You do get to handle them, but those internet dealers also have a moneyback guarantee--you can just ship the knife back for a full refund if it doesn't strike your fancy (mind you, I am only talking about the best dealers.)

However, I have been in Paragon at times and seen a particular knife really priced to move--at prices slightly below the best internet prices that I have seen for that maker. I suspect that it was done because the knife had been around too long, or new stock coming in, or something like that. You can imagine, for example, around the time of the Blade show that things will be priced to move....
 
Lucky Bob said:
MT? MicroTech? Don't they make switchblades (didn't see none of THOSE there, considering NY's an auto-illegal state.) Didn't see any CRKs there either, would've loved to handle a sebenza!
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I was at Paragon yesterday. They had no Sebenzas, but they did have several CRK fixed-blades.
 
Johnny11758 said:
I was at Paragon yesterday. They had no Sebenzas, but they did have several CRK fixed-blades.
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Ah alright. I didn't spend all that much time at the custom counter, but I think I would've recognized a sebenza.
 
Lucky Bob said:
Ah alright. I didn't spend all that much time at the custom counter, but I think I would've recognized a sebenza.
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I didn't see any Sebenzas at the custom counter yesterday, but several Chris Reeve fixed blades were on the bottom shelf (far right).
 
Sebenza'a are the one knife in the custom case there that actually sell regularly. I used to work there years ago, I was like the head knife seller. I've sold Sebenzas to celebrities and other custom knives as well. My Supervisors sold many more to celebs also.
 
RDT said:
I used to work there years ago, I was like the head knife seller. My Supervisors sold many more to celebs also.
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Me too. Dan and I did a ton of sales. Jeff does a very good job of snagging the good ones at the shows. They're overpriced, but thats typical of a Brick & Mortar, they need to mark up significantly to pay for overhead.
 
Tony, when'd you work there? I think the Blanks actually own that building. But I can only imagine the astronomical costs of running an operation like that. As well, they mark everything up...LOL
 
I know the last time I was there they had both Sebenzas and Mnandi's. They were both a little overpriced, but not as bad as their customs. Most of their salesmen don't know squat about knives but the head guy is very knowledgable.
 
What do they carry in the way of customs? Are there mainly knives from a few makers of certain styles or do they vary enough among makers and styles?
 
Is there anyplace in NYC that one could hold CRK(folders) and striders if possible.
 
They have a nice selection of customs from many makers from elishzwitz to terzuola. Striders..not sure, but wait til the NYCKS in Nov, they'll have a booth
 
GarageBoy said:
They have a nice selection of customs from many makers from elishzwitz to terzuola. Striders..not sure, but wait til the NYCKS in Nov, they'll have a booth
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Good 2 know. Thanks. :thumbup:
 
GFarrell3 said:
What do they carry in the way of customs? Are there mainly knives from a few makers of certain styles or do they vary enough among makers and styles?
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It usually depends on what they have in stock. But I only visit a few times a year, so I might be wrong. Last time I was there, they had quite a few knives from Pat & Wes Crawford, and Randall Made knives.
 
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