That's sad. Our only knife store here in San Antonio are the same way. You would think a city with a metropolitan area of almost 1.3 million could do better than 1 store, but nope. And it isn't even a dedicated cutlery shop as it is 3/4 guns and 1/4 knives. They get a fine old collection in on consignment on occasion, but the prices are so high they are ridiculous. They have one person that is knowledgeable about cutlery, but all the others would much rather be playing with the guns and gear. Some knives are pretty nice, but paying full suggested retail for a new knife, or retail plus is a bit silly to me.
Every once in a while a new store will open in a mall and it specializes in mall ninja gear like throwing stars, martial arts type knives, and Klingon battle gear. They do the Pacific Rim proud.
My best bet here when I want to see knives in person is the gun shows. Used and new, most are priced higher than they should be, but usually not by much. I will pay a bit more to get what I want and something I can put my hands on. I can go there and if both my favorite guys are there I can look at a couple of thousand knives. Most don't hold any interest, but at the last show I found an old Kabar Barlow that was in like new shape, and I was really pleased to get it.
Boy how I yearn for the days when I went to the old hardware store and worked my way though the display cases to get the best knives. My favorite old hardware store started with Sabre (considered Japanese junk!) but they were really affordable. They wobbled between Sabre and the old, old Imperial line that had plastic scales and stamped hollow bolsters. Then with a bit more cash, you moved to the Schrade case. Nice knives, but not the top of the hill. Then the largest walnut display had a light shining over the glass front with gold leaf writing: CASE.
These were knives I had to save to buy, but worth every penny. Everyone knew you couldn't go wrong with CASE. But still, not the lofty atmosphere of the top of the hill.
That was reserved for PUMA. These knives came all the way from Europe, made by ancient craftsmen toiling away at old dim lit workbenches that fitted and finished until these knives were perfect. They were made from and exotic steel noted as "Solingen Cutlery Steel" on the blade itself. All their knives had stag handles. All their knives were ground a little more flat to make them better cutters. All of them had different blade shapes that defined their European heritage. And all of them were EXPENSIVE.
Sadly I was never able to afford any of them, but I always started at that display before going over to the CASE display. I was lucky enough to find a "knife guy" in the store that would let a kid handle and look at all the knives I wanted when I was a kid.
Boy I miss those days.
OTOH, there are a few great vendors that frequent here and are approved/member vendors on Bladeforums. I have used a few, and all have been no less than great. A couple have excellent selections of traditional steels, styles, and makers. If you can scale off the knives you are looking at to get an idea of size (as in your hand when comparing to another knife that size), you might want to give them a try. I found my favorite guy right here on this forum.
Robert
Did they have anything nice in Stockman or Trapper?
