Rumor Mill..... Buck Knives will no longer be sold at ChinaMart?

DeSotoSky

DeSotoSky

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Stopped into one of the local gun shops the other day. While examing a nice Buck Kalinga Pro he had in the case the discussion turned to Buck knives in general. He is planning to start carrying them in the store. He said he was told Bucks would no longer be sold at Walmart after current stocks are gone..... Anyone else hear this? Any clearance sales at Walmart coming?

(I need to go back and make an offer on that Kalinga, it was nice and I don't have one....:rolleyes:)
 
Well, from what I've read on here, Buck will soon be making all their knives domestically, so I don't see how Wal-Mart could still sell the China made models if they are no longer available.

I have to wonder, where do most of Buck's sales come from? I know in my area at least, Wal-Mart and Ace are the only two stores that sell them, and that's a pretty meager selection. If they were to pull out of the big W, it would seem Buck would lose a good amount of sales.
 
We should all boycott the Anti-American stores as much as possible.

I will buy something at Wal-Mart once in a great while because I can't find it anywhere else and I need it quick.

Other than that, I boycott them and any other Anti-American store.

So, why shouldn't Buck boycott them?
 
My local WalMart sells the 119 and 110 as well as a couple of the off shore produced models so they aren't ONLY selling Bucks from overseas. If they can sell a 110 made in the USA they can surely sell any other model made here as well.
 
IMO, Buck doesn't need Walmart.

I would love to see the numbers but I'm guessing that e-commerce is driving Buck's current sales, not brick and mortar sales. I don't mean to diminish the joy and benefits of touching and handling a particular knife before dropping the dough, but for most things, plastic clam shells have already accustomed buyers to buying things without actually laying hands on them. Just a very short step from that to just buying on-line.

To my mind, good riddance. When I think of Walmart, I think of fake brand sell outs. Witness their sales of "Schwinn" bikes. As a former bike mechanic dude, I can tell you there is precious little about Walmart Schwinns and the Schwinns that we remember from the 70s. Essentially, it's a marketing trademark. Sort of like the Taylor Brand use of the Old Timer trademark. Walmart is chock full of stuff like that. This and made up fake brands. Like clothing with the word "authentic" on it. Sort of a retail gutter.

'Course, you could go to local high end mall and find the same sort of fake shilling of name brands that once meant something... Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie and Fitch... Anybody else here old enough to have visited the real A&F store in New York City back in the day?

Anyway, Buck should knock the dust off it's shoes and just leave.
 
I heard the rumor awhile back as well, but alas, Wallyworld still carries Buck's. Last time I looked as well, the local Walmart here still seems to get shipments of what appear to be newer 110's.
 
I have purchased or will be purchasing at least 7 new Bucks from the 2012 Catalog. There is not a single brick and morter store in the city the size of St Louis where I could walk in and actually lay my hands on the ones I'm interested in. I'm stuck with on line / mailorder purchasing.
 
DeSotoSky said:
I have purchased or will be purchasing at least 7 new Bucks from the 2012 Catalog. There is not a single brick and morter store in the city the size of St Louis where I could walk in and actually lay my hands on the ones I'm interested in. I'm stuck with on line / mailorder purchasing.
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Have you tried emailing Larry Oden? If you're going to order online you might get a better deal from him especially if you're a BCCI member.
 
Badhammer said:
Have you tried emailing Larry Oden? If you're going to order online you might get a better deal from him especially if you're a BCCI member.
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Yes, thanks Badhammer, I do. My point was, there is no physical store where I could buy the same items in person if I wanted to. There are several places that carry Bucks but the inventory is shallow and not full line. This gets around to pinnah's point "that e-commerce is driving Buck's current sales, not brick and mortar sales" Since I can't buy locally in a city as large as St Louis, he might be right. /Roger
 
DeSotoSky said:
Yes, thanks Badhammer, I do. My point was, there is no physical store where I could buy the same items in person if I wanted to. There are several places that carry Bucks but the inventory is shallow and not full line. This gets around to pinnah's point "that e-commerce is driving Buck's current sales, not brick and mortar sales" Since I can't buy locally in a city as large as St Louis, he might be right. /Roger
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Oh, ok. Understood. I'm kind of in a similar situation. Bucks at the retail level here are slim. Walmart has it's few, Sportsmans Warehouse has maybe a dozen of the base models. Gander Mountain is almost exclusively Gerber with probably six Buck models at most. I don't even go to Dicks Sporting Goods any more but they can't be any better. What gun shops we have mostly stock Browning or Winchester marked blades with the odd Gerber.
 
DeSoto, have you tried Denny Dennis Sporting goods? I was there about a month ago purchasing a Sig and noticed a handful Bucks there for sale that I don't recall seeing at some of the other local stores. They have no online sales but it might be worth a shot to stop by.
 
I saw a headline on the news the other day that Gerber was recalling some knives that had failing locks. Maybe waly world could learn a little from selling inferior made knives and stock up on more Bucks!
When they had Sam at the helm of the company, he made a lot of loyal customers by stating he would "Sell American made" . I rarely go in the place these days. On the other hand, The one off shore Buck I own is a high quality little folder. It proves that quality can be produced far from their home turff if the company controls it and stands behind their products.
 
trevytrev said:
DeSoto, have you tried Denny Dennis Sporting goods? I was there about a month ago purchasing a Sig and noticed a handful Bucks there for sale that I don't recall seeing at some of the other local stores. They have no online sales but it might be worth a shot to stop by.
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Sure I have. I beat the bushes hard within a hundred miles.....;) Not a well maintained display and nothing discounted.
 
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I think brick and mortar stores are up against some real change factors. I have to force myself to remember that stock on the shelves costs money in terms of "rent". It costs real money to maintain a stock of stuff. Add to this the fact that any zombie can point their browser to amazon.com and find a gazzilion choices in colors and variations at great prices, and you have to wonder why or how a brick and mortar store can compete on certain kinds of items. I see this in bike stores in spades. Ditto in camping and backpacking stores. Brick and mortar stores still make sense but the inventory is shifting.

I think that do well in brick and mortar stores are:
a) Things that need to be tried on for fit
b) "I need it now" items
c) Impulse purchase items
d) Replacement and wear items

Only a certain number of knives fit either the "I need it now" or Impulse buy category. I think knives that do well in that category have some recognizably and brand image. The Swiss Army Knife. Now, Gerber with Bear Gryliss's face all over them. The Buck 110, while it may be recognizable for hunters and Buck loyalists, well... I don't think it's recognizable to many outside of that camp. Buck could really use a knife that represents the recognizable face of Buck for a new generation at a clam shell price point. My bet would be on a drop point Ecolite 112. That would be the first knife in store and the last Buck to leave. Target it for a $35 price point.

But beyond this, I think it makes sense for Buck to focus its energies on web sales, both direct from their own web site and through other online resellers. I think that's the future for knife sales, especially for people who are likely to own more than one knife.
 
A few years back I tried selling Buck and another US brand in my store. As much as I wanted to sell them, I couldn't afford to as I could buy retail at the "marts" or on line for less than what the mfg or distributors would supply me. Also minimum stock orders could break you.
 
The usual retailer pays half of the MSRP of a Buck knife, shipping excluded. Take a Buck 110 at 2012 MSRP of $69, whether #9210 in a box or #1268 in a clamshell, that's still $34.50 plus s/h cost. WallyWorld - and Academy,etc - regularly sell them for less - even $28 or less. How can the corner hardware store afford to try to sell them for a fair price? Buck hurt themselves doing this. At least Spyderco had the good sense to stop selling to W-W when they marked their Native 4's in S30V at $39.48. My local Wally had the good Bucks the last time I caught a sales person at the sporting goods counter there. The real deals of years gone by, the 'collector tins' of Buck 110's, are long gone. After Christmas closeout sales at W-W often got down to $11 or less. Unreal. It gave an artificially low sense of value for an American classic knife. Yeah, I bought them then, too. I'll wager, as time goes on, the US-made knives in general will fade there. So many hobby-related items are gone - they've effectively left the big 'general store' genre. Try to find sewing accessories - or model kits. Heck, my Publix grocery store has a few models - even a 'Crystal Radio Kit' - 'Radio Shack' doesn't even have that! I remember when... Gee, maybe I am just getting old?

Stainz
 
My local mart this year raised the price of the 110 to $35.
 
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