Why dropping spydercos?

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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We don't have a Cabelas anywhere near Sheeplesburg, but I did visit one in Washington State whose knife collection left me singularly unimpressed. I bought a nice jacket there though. :)
 
There's probably more profitability in overpriced Benchmades. I mean, how much does a $90-100 mini griptillian actually cost to produce, with their plastic handles and 154CM steel? You can buy a Delica 4 for around $50-60 or you can get the ZDP version which is an amazing steel for about $80-90.
 
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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Is Mickey's the military surplus you're talking about? The guy there told me they were getting too expensive. Don't really understand that...
 
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I dont think there is any loss of love for Spyderco. Example, The Para 2's have been selling like hotcakes! :D:thumbup: Kevin
 
DShiflet said:
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.
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Same here with a mix of about 60% Buck (two bays) and 40% (1 bay) combined with mostly China made SOG/Gerber/Kershaw.

This one does not carry Case, Ka-Bar, Beckers, Spyderco, Ontraio, etc.
 
Spydercos most likely don't have to same margins as the other junk like Gerber.
When you use good materials that are heat treated properly its naturally more costly to make.
I don't think its a bad thing for Spyderco not being in big box stores as there market isn't a typical bubba who uses a knife more for prying than cutting.
There aren't many companays who offer mass produced knives in the variety of exotic steels as they do and that will always separate them in a positive way IMO..
 
eodtoad said:
The grind lines on the blade look wavy and deep. I like the knife design though.
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it's a prototype. Spyderco doesn't go all in and fine polishes everything with their prototypes. i think it gives the knife a unique design with the deep & wavy grind on the blade
 
It's a crapshoot around here. One place has a few BKC's and Kershaws, then there's a Surplus store that has an amazing selection of BKC'S, Spydercos, Kershaw/ZT's, Microtech, Emerson, SOG, and all the rest. Just depends on the store.

The only indicator that something was odd was that the Spydercos were selling for msrp. Um... $450 for a Southard? No thanks, but I'm sure that's an isolated case.
 
This thread is useless. Didnt realize mom n pop army surplus stores and ninja shops were an indicator of the knife industry in the 21st century. Cabelas is a big time shop, but as others mention it probably has more to do with profit margin than anything else.
 
All replies so far seem to be speculation but normally retailers drop a product line if margins are bad compared to other brands, they cannot get enough product of the popular models or manufacturer/distributor policies are unacceptable. The last reason is that quality has gone to hell due to some manufacturing or ownership change as we have seen happen with some brands.
 
CR33 said:
This thread is useless. Didnt realize mom n pop army surplus stores and ninja shops were an indicator of the knife industry in the 21st century. Cabelas is a big time shop, but as others mention it probably has more to do with profit margin than anything else.
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The places I mentioned are an indicator to me.

The first place is a major sporting goods retailer. At least on the left coast. Not sure if they are national.

The second place had the Spydercos at a higher markup than the other knives that I saw which made me wonder why.

Probably no big deal.
 
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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I don't think your "local army surplus" has the foggiest idea on what's what. Cutting back is one thing, but being out of stock is whole other turkey shoot.
 
CR33 said:
Didnt realize mom n pop army surplus stores and ninja shops were an indicator of the knife industry in the 21st century.
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Then don't shop in Kansas City because that's all that's here as far as finding a wide assortment of knives.
 
The guy that buys knives for my local knife store said that he doesn't like buying Spyderco because they know they have to sell them for less than they want to because you can buy them so cheap online. He said that he doesn't like that Spyderco knows that they sell the knives cheap online and "don't care about their dealers enough to put a stop to online retailers selling them so cheap." He also really likes that Benchmade made it so websites have to charge 15% under MSRP or more because he thinks its shows that they take care of their brick and mortar dealers. Needless to say I don't buy knives their that cost more than about $50
 
He also really likes that Benchmade made it so websites have to charge 15% under MSRP or more because he thinks its shows that they take care of their brick and mortar dealers.
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I have not bought a Benchmade since they incorporated that policy. Guess about a decade back.
 
Consider yourself lucky. I can't recall ever seeing a Spyderco in a store. Yay for gun shows.
 
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