Why dropping spydercos?

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mban112

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Mar 27, 2007
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I have now been to three different places that have either stopped selling spydercos all together (Cabelas, local army surplus) or have cut back on the types they sell. What's up? The guy at the local army surplus said they were old fashioned. Another martial arts place said they were getting too expensive, but he was selling all sorts of high dollar stuff, like gold class benchmades. Why the loss of love for spyderco?
 
mban112 said:
I have now been to three different places that have either stopped selling spydercos all together (Cabelas, local army surplus) or have cut back on the types they sell. What's up? The guy at the local army surplus said they were old fashioned. Another martial arts place said they were getting too expensive, but he was selling all sorts of high dollar stuff, like gold class benchmades. Why the loss of love for spyderco?
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they got better trade terms from other manufacturers, plus a discount if they bad-mouth spyderco thereon.
 
Yeah I feel like a lot of their stuff is very cutting edge as far as exotic steels go
 
Spyderco is having so much trouble selling their knives at these cutting edge venues that ... they had to expand their factory !!

Huh?

Please. Put facts in gear before engaging argument.
 
Lol,Spyderco can barely keep up with demand,this thread makes no sense.:)
[video=youtube;shqTNZIp69M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shqTNZIp69M[/video]
 
I'm just telling you my experience with retailers here in Kansas City. They have been dropped or scaled back by many of the knife dealers. I'm baffled as well.
 
maybe they're factory/dealer returns to clear inventory for new stocks. what city in the US doesn't want newly-minted paramilitary's?
 
Sounds like a personal preference thing to me. If a salesperson doesn't like something, they often have a hard time selling it, therefore it is not profitable for that shop.
 
If Cabelas is anything like it is here, they focus more on "macho/tactical" and rugged/outdoor type knives. We all know Spyderco makes good knives, but while we may love them, I don't look at most Spydercos as looking all that macho, tactical, or rugged.
 
mban112 said:
I have now been to three different places that have either stopped selling spydercos all together (Cabelas, local army surplus) or have cut back on the types they sell. What's up?
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As far as Cabelas go, you may never know why. All sorts of things effect what a big merchandiser like them chooses to carry, many totally removed from anything we might find logical.

One thought, and its just a guess, they may not be able to get the quantities of harder to get Spydies people are looking for and got tired of tying to compete with Amazon's pricing on the more common ones.

The guy at the local army surplus said they were old fashioned.
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Thats odd or funny, or maybe both. At any rate, not sure I'd listen to him further.

Another martial arts place said they were getting too expensive, but he was selling all sorts of high dollar stuff, like gold class benchmades.
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Also odd and funny too. Spyderco is too expensive but overpriced BM Golds aren't?:confused:
Spyderco has been adding more higher end items (LionSpy, Vallotton, Southard, Szabo, etc.), maybe thats what he meant.
Think I might avoid seeking advice from him too.

Why the loss of love for spyderco?
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Far as I know, there isn't.
Wouldn't worry about it too much, still plenty of sources for whatever Spydie you are looking for.
 
Dealers carry products that are profitable for them. If they are making money selling the stuff, they continue to sell it. If it isn't selling, or it's too much trouble to get, or the profit margins are too slim, then they drop the product line.

I wouldn't read too much into it, as it may not have anything to do with what an end-user would care about.

I think frequently dealers won't tell you the real reason why they dropped a product line. They aren't going to say, 'well, we make a lot better margins selling this other brand, so we dropped Spyderco'. Or, maybe Spyderco dropped the dealer because they felt they had too many dealers in that geographic area, and/or they were discounting Spyderco knives too much.
 
skyhorse said:
Lol,Spyderco can barely keep up with demand,this thread makes no sense.:)
[video=youtube;shqTNZIp69M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shqTNZIp69M[/video]
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The grind lines on the blade look wavy and deep. I like the knife design though.
 
Cabalas here focus on Buck knives are they are hunting knives not tactical.. Spyderco knives are not hunting knives.
 
AfghanWarrior said:
Cabalas here focus on Buck knives are they are hunting knives not tactical.. Spyderco knives are not hunting knives.
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Cabelas here focuses on hunting knives indeed(lotta Buck), but they also carry stuff like SOG, Gerber, and some Kershaw, which certainly aren't hunting knives either.
 
nickortizzle1035 said:
because benchmades are better :D
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Yeah, right! :foot:
That is why I got about 20 Spydercos and big fat 0 BM. LOL.
I think maybe it's matter of preference.
Back to topic: I don't see any loss of love for Spyderco here.
Maybe it's geographical thing??? IMHO Spyderco still very affordable brand on 2nd or even 1st market.
 
Might just be a struggle to compete with web-based dealers. BM may be more profitable because their MAP policy makes that competition quite a bit easier.
 
The answer to "everything" is the bottom-line...the almighty dollar. Some of your stores are able to sell other brands at a higher profit margin, and that drives retail.
 
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