Spyderco Forums

This is not our forum. This is the Company forum.
Its purpose is to advance the interests of the Company.
That is done, quite wisely, by fostering the Spyderco community.

The Company also has to protect their brick and mortar retailers.
The Internet has flattened the traditional free market.
In the bad old days, it was comprised of manufacturers,
wholesalers with warehouses and retailers with stores
and the incumbent overhead and cost
of purchasing, financing, insuring, maintaining
and selling inventory.

Now, the market is not just dog eat dog,
it is an Internet dogpile.

The first Spydercos I purchased
were from dealers in gun shows in 1990
with an exchange of currency,
a thank you, a smile and a handshake.
The next 30 knives or so purchased 25 years later
were all acquired on the cold, faceless Internet.

When was the last time you purchased a Spyderco
in a store?

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:21 am

When was the last time you purchased a Spyderco
in a store?

1998 at field camp in Taos NM. Got the Remote Release to hang on my day pack because I was worried I was gonna lose my Worker hiking all over the place for 6 weeks.

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:21 am

This is not our forum. This is the Company forum.
Its purpose is to advance the interests of the Company.
That is done, quite wisely, by fostering the Spyderco community.

The Company also has to protect their brick and mortar retailers.
The Internet has flattened the traditional free market.
In the bad old days, it was comprised of manufacturers,
wholesalers with warehouses and retailers with stores
and the incumbent overhead and cost
of purchasing, financing, insuring, maintaining
and selling inventory.

Now, the market is not just dog eat dog,
it is an Internet dogpile.

The first Spydercos I purchased
were from dealers in gun shows in 1990
with an exchange of currency,
a thank you, a smile and a handshake.
The next 30 knives or so purchased 25 years later
were all acquired on the cold, faceless Internet.

When was the last time you purchased a Spyderco
in a store?

1996 but I fail to see the point you are trying to make. SPYDERCO still wins and probably by a lot more than the brick and mortar days.

I am not saying knife shops killed the B&M but I am saying retail killed itself.

20 years ago I would walk into Macy’s, Sears, Circuit city, and they had buildings the size of warehouses, Warehouses yet they refused to stock merchandise I could buy when going there. Then they hired incompetent people who due to low pay could care less.

I would ask where can I find this or that, eventually I only went to these stores if I was in the mall or area any way and no longer would go there because of something that actually started before online retailers.

Now mind you stores the size of warehouses, big heating and cooling costs, big rents, and do you know what the poor workers would say to me when they did not have something even staples as part of advertisements not even sales mind you.

They would say I’m sorry we don’t have that but we can order it for you,

That was the death song of retail, it was sung for a long time before online sales were a thing. The cathedrals were warehouse sized stores and they failed to carry stock.

How the L can you sell in retail if you don’t have stock on hand?

I even saw this a Wendy’s ordering fries and a burger, they said we don’t have fries. I left. They were out of business within months.

So retail did it to themselves with all there genius business plans. I don’t ever want to hear anyone lamenting their suicide. The big boys did it to themselves and took down the rest of the industry with it.

The internet offering what retailers refused to, you know the thing you wanted your time going to the store to buy and being told we can order it for you just come back to get it.

My reply was do you not see the absurdity of what you are saying? I can order this myself if that was what I wanted to do. You are putting yourselves out of a job and you will go out of business. No way am I coming back.

Eventually I said to L with them let them go out of business.

Allot of other people did to.

SPYDERCO has greatly profited from online sales as for everyone down stream well the big boys will continue The Blade HQ’s the Knifecenters. They treat the customer right and they move allot of product. The rest well if they have not gotten successful with volume they will probably be like the others we hear closing.

Where I live, there are exactly two Spyderco "retailers" within 1 ½ hours. The closest claims to be a Spyderco dealer, and they have Benchmades, Bucks, and other prominently displayed, but I have yet to see a single Spyderco. When I asked about Spydercos, all I got was a shrug. The other store is a Cabellas. They had several Chinese-made Spydercos (Tenacious, etc) in blister packs, and that was all. So, I find it difficult to buy anywhere but the Internet. It isn't my choice, it's my circumstance. If I lived in Golden, I'd probably spend too much time at the Spyderco store...time AND money!

Actinolite wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 10:01 am

Where I live, there are exactly two Spyderco "retailers" within 1 ½ hours. The closest claims to be a Spyderco dealer, and they have Benchmades, Bucks, and other prominently displayed, but I have yet to see a single Spyderco. When I asked about Spydercos, all I got was a shrug. The other store is a Cabellas. They had several Chinese-made Spydercos (Tenacious, etc) in blister packs, and that was all. So, I find it difficult to buy anywhere but the Internet. It isn't my choice, it's my circumstance. If I lived in Golden, I'd probably spend too much time at the Spyderco store...time AND money!

You and me both, I encouraged a friend who was nearby on a business trip to go to the SFO and she dropped over 2k before leaving. Guess why this happened even at higher prices?

It is because they had stock to sell. Easy math.

You talk too much...

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:21 am

This is not our forum. This is the Company forum.
Its purpose is to advance the interests of the Company.
That is done, quite wisely, by fostering the Spyderco community.

The Company also has to protect their brick and mortar retailers.
The Internet has flattened the traditional free market.
In the bad old days, it was comprised of manufacturers,
wholesalers with warehouses and retailers with stores
and the incumbent overhead and cost
of purchasing, financing, insuring, maintaining
and selling inventory.

Now, the market is not just dog eat dog,
it is an Internet dogpile.

The first Spydercos I purchased
were from dealers in gun shows in 1990
with an exchange of currency,
a thank you, a smile and a handshake.
The next 30 knives or so purchased 25 years later
were all acquired on the cold, faceless Internet.

When was the last time you purchased a Spyderco
in a store?

on a road trip to new graham when they announced they were closing last year.

Never for me, but I never had local options either.

I do miss the old days-back when going to a mall was an event heck it used to be so filled with noise from people talking that walking into the cutlery store was like hallowed ground pretty quiet and serious study of what was for sale, the guys working in these places tended to be vets and knew there knives.

The younger generations don’t even know what they missed. I like what SPYDERCO does with the SFO I got to see live video from my friend when she was there it brought back good memories and a longing for what once was and never will be again.

I kind of think somehow we all knew going to the Mall was special, until it wasn’t.

I have no place local to purchase Spyderco knives. If I wanted to drive an hour north to buy a knife... sure. I hate traveling, so, a knife purchase won't make me take the trip. I purchase most everything on line for the ease of it. Brick and mortar are on the way put for a lot of things. I would guess knife purchases are one of many things.

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 12:13 pm

You talk too much...

Good to know others think this, too

Mad Mac wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 9:21 am

This is not our forum. This is the Company forum.
Its purpose is to advance the interests of the Company.
That is done, quite wisely, by fostering the Spyderco community.

The Company also has to protect their brick and mortar retailers.
The Internet has flattened the traditional free market.
In the bad old days, it was comprised of manufacturers,
wholesalers with warehouses and retailers with stores
and the incumbent overhead and cost
of purchasing, financing, insuring, maintaining
and selling inventory.

Now, the market is not just dog eat dog,
it is an Internet dogpile.

The first Spydercos I purchased
were from dealers in gun shows in 1990
with an exchange of currency,
a thank you, a smile and a handshake.
The next 30 knives or so purchased 25 years later
were all acquired on the cold, faceless Internet.

When was the last time you purchased a Spyderco
in a store?

last year I bought a 15V Military 2 at the Knivesshipfree storefront in my home town.

I buy a lot online too. But I tend to buy from smaller online retailers whose owners are open to communicating with me, via email, if I have questions or special requests. The internet does not have to be "cold and faceless". In fact I have had at least 4 email conversations, that I can recall off of the top of my head, with different owners of retail establishments within the last few months. These owners are, in my experience, happy to answer questions and engage with their customers. Of course you will not get this kind of service at the Amazons and BladeHQs of the world. So I encourage all knife avis to cultivate these type of relationships with the smaller retailers.

Late last year (Endela in K390). I live in a large metropolitan area with a 30-mile commute that takes me within a half mile of the local shop, so I suspect I'm an exception.

This particular shop carries a decent selection of Spydercos, but others' comments on convenience ring true for me, as well. Stopping at that shop during 5PM traffic puts me back on the road at even-worse 5:30PM traffic. I like the folks that run it and the prices are (for the most part) in line with what you'd expect, but many times that commute will push me to go home and shop online with a beer.

PE k390 Leaf Jumpers at DLT for $120

https://www.dlttrading.com/spyderco-lea ... k390-blade

Doublemdefense.com

Microjimbo Salt $151.99
Chaparral SE $84.99

Looks like they had some other great deals.
Didn’t spend much time looking because I’ve never heard of them before and didn’t want to be tempted
Did a smidge of googling and they seem legit.
Ordered the MJ Salt to see how it goes.
Been carrying the 15v daily and it’s awesome so figured I pick up the salt for summer.

Anyone have any experience with them?

I’ve not heard of them but for that price you should get the SE Chaparral it is a beast. I looked at the site too demanding for personal info up front avoiding them.

I think my last in-person purchase was back in October 2024 with my first Military 2 from REC. I was on a business trip and my hotel was 30 minutes from their store so it had to be done lol.

Used to have a local knife shop but it closed down years ago. His selection of Spyderco's had dwindled down to only a handful of options by that point anyway.

We usually stop by SMKW on our way to or from vacation but this last vacation we took I didn't have anything in mind so I didn't stop.

I picked up my Dyad Jr from SMKW last month when we were in the area on vacation. Most of my purchases are online of course, but in a shop is still the best.

Zbec27 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 14, 2026 12:40 pm

PE k390 Leaf Jumpers at DLT for $120

https://www.dlttrading.com/spyderco-lea ... k390-blade

Great knife! I have one in SE, and it's a workhorse.

Shmohawk wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 9:56 am

Doublemdefense.com

Microjimbo Salt $151.99
Chaparral SE $84.99

Looks like they had some other great deals.
Didn’t spend much time looking because I’ve never heard of them before and didn’t want to be tempted
Did a smidge of googling and they seem legit.
Ordered the MJ Salt to see how it goes.
Been carrying the 15v daily and it’s awesome so figured I pick up the salt for summer.

Anyone have any experience with them?

Amazing deals on some knives, almost too good to be true but there seems to be a lot of positive reviews.

Crucarta Native 5 $150 as an example.