What's Your Experience With Cutlery Store Employees?

S

Soloman

Joined
Jun 20, 1999
Messages
358
In most every knife store I've been in, the employees do not know much about their products; not nearly as much as most of the people on Bladeforums anyway. I find it distressing that I have to help the employee out in their sales pitch for a knife I ask to see. Is this common? Or have I just been unlucky in the stores I've visited? This has been bothering me for a while...

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"I'm out there Jerry, and I'm lovin' every minute of it!"--Kramer
 
I've seen both. I have met knife store employees who knew much more than I, and were very helpful. I have also seen knife store employees who looked like they just took any retail job they could find, and I ended up teaching them about the products they were selling. From store to store YMWV.

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"I have often laughed at the weaklings who call themselves kind because they have no claws"

- Zarathustra
 
I always get a kick out of that when I go to SMKW's in Tenn.

You would think that when you walk into the mecca of all knife store's, there would be a staff on hand who know about knives...I always feel that after I buy a knife,their going to ask me "You want fries with that!

The last 4 years Ive stopped in while on vacation I have only met 2 people there who seemed to have a idea of what their talking about.





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Keith D.Armacost
If The Women Don't Find You Handsome,
At Least Let Them Find You Handy. R.G.
 
The stand-alone, purely knives shops that I've been to have all been pretty good. The cutlery shops in the malls -- pretty bad....pretty bad..

Phil Reedy
 
I've only been to one cutlery shop- in a mall. The guy I talked to- a real old fella working at night- couldn't distinguish between the Benchmade models. I had to lean over the counter to point out the one I wanted to see. I don't much care though- I don't want to pay retail for a knife anyway.
 
The local knife store in the mall in Boise has a couple of young men working who think they know what they're talking about, but don't! They give eroneous information all the time to customers near me. It hurts to stand there and listen but they give you nasty looks if you correct them.

Also, they have a sign that states they will not sell knives to anyone under 18. I asked if it was a store policy or if they were trying to pass it off as legal. They didn't know and the manager wasn't around. I will get to the bottom of this soon.

Bruce Woodbury (definitely over 18, more like 18 X 3)
 
Cutlery store employees are like every store employees- the individual store operators owner/operators are usually pretty good. But, the mall folks are inept at best; however, you can find one that knows just enough to answer a question.

You only get so much knowledge for $5.25 per hour!

Daniel
 
My experiences have been very similar to those already expressed, but I have to say that this phenomena certainly isn't confined to the cutlery industry. Over the last few years I've been seeing the same problem (which appears to be getting worse all the time) while doing comparative shopping for TVs, VCRs, computers, computer accessories, cameras, stereo equipment, guns, sporting goods, home appliances etc., etc., and the list keeps on growing. It seems that with any large purchase you make today, an hour of research on the internet will just about guarantee that you'll walk into the store knowing more about a particular product than the salesman. I guess it's true when they say that good help is hard to find.

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Semper Fi

-Bill
 
Kdarmy: “I always get a kick out of that when I go to SMKW's in Tenn.”

In their latest catalog, they list an Emerson Raven with a cast metal handle and a CQC-7 with carbon fiber. I went to the website on the catalog cover and this is what I got:

Could Not Connect
Description: Could not connect to the server "www.smokymountainknife.com".

If they can't get it right in writing, you can forget the hired help.
 
Solomon,
I see that you are from California. If you ever get a chance, go by Nordic knives in Solvang. They know their stuff! I have been in several times and have always found them to be extremely knowlegeable and friendly. Their stock always contains the old standbys,as well as some real "gee whiz" customs. Solvang is a great town for the family, so they shouldn't grumble when you stop.
david

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AKTI# A000150
NC Custom Knifemakers Guild member
NC Knife Knuts member
 
Gerrr! This is one of my pet pieves. Most stores (cutlery or otherwise) seem to hire a warm body and turm them loose on the public. I've seen good clerks and bad ones. Depends on the luck of the draw. I will agree that Nordic Knives in Solvang is a great store. Very professional and with a good selection of production, Randalls, and customs. I just wish it were closer to San Diego.
 
I'm only about an hour or so away from Solvang, so I'm sure I could find some excuse to drive over there. Thanks for the recommendation.

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"I'm out there Jerry, and I'm lovin' every minute of it!"--Kramer
 
Ok, I have stated my views nicely before, guess I will now just say what I think of you morons who love to go and handle every knife in the store and run home and order on the net. First off, I used to sell knives at a mall store, and I had been 'into' knives far longer. I did everything I could to keep up with all the new stuff and be as helpful as I could. I also had customers who knew more than I, and I always learned from them whenever I could. Oh, and by the way, for the idiot above who says 'what do you expect from a 5.25/hr clerk, I worked on comission, and was able to make way above that. When you find a salesman who does know his stuff, then dammit, buy from him. You people who waste countless hours of the salesmans time and run home and say, "I hate mall prices, so I will order on the net" make me sick. Mall stores pay very high rent, they keep plenty of inventory for you to lay your grubby hands on, and to think they can offer this service for net prices is nuts. If you dont intend to buy from them...then stay the hell out of the store...go home and order on the net sight-unseen and hope that you get what ya want.



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Richard
icq 61363141
Just some knife pictures
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=110070&a=4518795
UPDATED and REVISED
 
Richard I could not agree with you more. people that take up the time of a sales person knowing full well that they will be buying from the net are in my opinion pretty low.
As to the first question, I have been to two knife stores in which the staff were very helpful and quite knowledgable, and about half a dozen in which they were clerks and knew very little or nothing at all. In one of the stores the person that I talked to treated me as if I in some way offended him for having the nerve to ask for his assistance. I think maybe he was having a bad day.
That was the only truely bad experience that I have had at a knife store, and I visit them whenever I go to a new town just in case I see something that I just have to buy.
 
I went into Seattle Cutlery (in Pikes Place...tourist trap) and the sales person I talked to was something else
rolleyes.gif
. Every knife he brought out of the case, he'd hold in the forward grip, kind of crouch over, bounce back and forth, and basically have an imaginary knife fight with the air. Then he'd put the knife on the counter for you to pick up.

Um...I don't mean to be critical of his sales technique
rolleyes.gif
but it seemed like he was starting to scare some of the tourists. The other kid that was work with him (and for me to be refering to someone as a "kid" he was young), was a junior version of this knife fighter. I showed them my Synergy, and he kid says "Hey that's kind of like a folding scimitar!" Um...maybe he's part of the Hibben Fantasy Knife teenage club or something.

I always get a kick out of knife shops, because I have yet to find one in Seattle where the sales people actually knew something worth while.
frown.gif


~Mitch

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My Hobby Page
 
I went to Knife Gallery at Brea Mall in California because I met "Sharpedge" (who works there), on BFC. Kind of trippy, because I don't live in that area, I was just going to vacation there, and a few days before I left, I found out that he lived in that area and we got talking about the store in Brea, and he worked there.
eek.gif


I spent about three hours talking to him and finally after that spent about 55 bucks.
smile.gif
Hope he's not too angry that it took him three hours to get 55 bucks of sales. Oh well, it's not like I was keeping him from serving the other customers or nothing, he always served them first 'cuz he knew I was going to be there for a while!
smile.gif
He says he doesn't like people who look at the knives and then say "I'll be back" and never come back. Don't worry.
smile.gif
Chang isn't like that.

Daniel (Sharpedge) was fun to talk to, and he was fun to annoy as well.
smile.gif
He knew his stuff well. Doug and Jeff (the other guys at the store) were well educated too. Jeff wasn't as fun to annoy, and Doug was just funny. He told me that the reason he got his black CQC-7 was so that he could walk at night and have it open and put the blade against his black shirt and walk around with it. So I walked around with my BM-910BT open and against my dark shirt for the next 15 minutes, at which he finally said, "Don't mock."

My experiences with local stores have been real good, except for the two years before this year in which Knife Gallery wouldn't let me handle the knives because I was underage and they were very strict about enforcing the age policy.

There is another store in that area too. "Advanced Cutlery". Their selection is smaller, and the employees aren't well versed in the knife ways, but they were very friendly. I bought the next issue of BLADE from them because I found my wallet was rather empty and I couldn't afford the CRKT aluminum Mirage.

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Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
My local mall knife store had a great guy working there for years. He knew his stuff and had a genuine enthusiasm for knives. If you needed a knife sharpened he would either charge you and send it to a service or you could hang out in the store and he'd do it in his spare time. I bought a bunch of knives there just because of him. I haven't seen him for a while, though. I think the store was sold and he's gone.
 
If an employee of a cutlery store really knew their stuff, and was clearly good at what they did, I would definately be tempted to pay the extra $ to buy from them. However, I've been unlucky so far in my knife store ventures and have not found an educated employee. In these cases, I try not to take up his/her time, but just open a few and then leave. I mean no disrespect to those cutlery store workers who do know what they sell, I wish I could run into a few of you.

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"I'm out there Jerry, and I'm lovin' every minute of it!"--Kramer
 
I stopped into a cutlery store on Pier 39 in San Francisco some years ago. I don't recall the makers, but there were actually a number of fine handmades in the cases.

I showed the young man behind the counter my Phill Hartsfield neck knife. "Aw man ! That's cheap ! It's only ground on one side !
rolleyes.gif


I called Cold Steel awhile back, and told the employee I would like to order a Gunsite Folder. Reply: "A gunsite folder ? What's that ?!" Never mind. Here's the order number. Sheesh.....

In mall located shops, my experiences have been mostly negative. In fine shops I've frequented, such as Nordic Knives, and Carmel Cutlery, both in California, I've come away with nothing but top-notch, knowledgeable help from it's employees and owners.


[This message has been edited by Kwaiken56 (edited 08-09-2000).]
 
With the exception of Texas Knife Makers Supply, I have only found one knife shop clerk who knew a Benchmade from a Buck. 'Course, I've only been in a few, but still it would be nice if people would bother to learn what they sell.

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Joshua, aka Feneris,'Destroyer of Whisky' of the Terrible Ironic Horde
But doom'd and devoted by vassal and lord.
MacGregor has still both his heart and his sword!
-MacGregor's Gathering, Sir Walter Scott
 
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