Spyderco Forums

Just got an email from Tom Berry indicating that he is out of business. That stinks. Tom is a good guy to do business with.

sorry to hear that

I hope all is well and everything works out.

That sucks! Tom hooked me up with my Yojimbo 2 right after Christmas. He is a good dude.

sad to hear
hope everything works out for him, great guy to deal with, I had limited experience, but everything was smooth as can be

Very sad to hear

Reading Tom's email, it looks like the problem was that Spyderco requires dealers to have a brick and mortar store, and the building he was using as a dealer became unavailable, which has led to him having him having to termintate (or, maybe more hopefully suspend? - but there was nothing about that in Tom's email) his dealer status. Here's hoping he'll be back soon. He's been a fabulous resource, and if he doesn't make it back he will be very much missed. :spyder:

Agreed. Tom was my go-to guy for pretty much any Spyderco I wanted to pre-order. Great guy to do business with and I hope somehow, he gets back in the game. Best wishes for Tom for sure.

Sorry to see to lose my dealer and also sorry I lost out on my Orange Dodo pre-order.

that is really sad to hear. He is a honest stand up guy and a good Spyderco dealer

That's a shame. Tom was great to do business with. He was always my go to for an elusive pre-order. I hope he can return to business someday. I hope he is doing fine as well.

Sorry to hear this. Tom is a great guy, helped me out few times, member of this forum for a long time.
I hope everything will workout well for him

Best of luck to his next adventure. One door closes, another one opens.

Thanks for the good times Tom. All the best for the future mate.
O.

I have not done a whole lot of business with Tom but what I have done was really nice. Who else will put a hand-written note in with a knife saying thank-you.
Tom, sure hope everything works out for the best. Please let us know HOW we can support you in the future.

JNewell wrote:Reading Tom's email, it looks like the problem was that Spyderco requires dealers to have a brick and mortar store, and the building he was using as a dealer became unavailable, which has led to him having him having to termintate (or, maybe more hopefully suspend? - but there was nothing about that in Tom's email) his dealer status. Here's hoping he'll be back soon. He's been a fabulous resource, and if he doesn't make it back he will be very much missed. :spyder:

That was also my understanding. It does not look like he is out of business by either poor sales or choice, but rather the inability to meet the requirement of a brick & mortar store.

Such a shame that a technicality should put him out. I must have bought 5 or 6 knives from him (more than any other dealer) and I never had an issue. I hope he can get back in the game again soon.

Just to be clear, without giving out any confidential information, this business closing was not initiated by or the result of any decision from Spyderco. We do have a standard requirement for a brick & mortar presence, however we have in the past made exceptions to that policy and we do have several accounts that are online only retailers. We are very picky about accepting an online only dealer and that is out of respect for the brick & mortar dealers who have supported us for years as well as out of respect for you our ELU. Spydercovt.com's decision to no longer be a Spyderco dealer was solely his own and we would never terminate an existing dealership on a technicality. Just like everything else we do, we believe in doing business in a fair, proper and honest manner.

Kristi

Thank you for explaining that Kristi. I apologize if I inadvertently gave the impression that Spyderco shut me down or dropped me as a dealer. The decision was mine alone. My relationship with Spyderco has been an excellent one. I will miss the professional, and just plain "good people", I have had the pleasure of dealing with there.

Thank u for the clarification Kristi, we can now safely assume he closed shop to join a drumkit.