Mark's Outdoors - Birmingham, Alabama - super knife store!

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Stainz

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If you are on I-65 meandering through Birmingham, Alabama.... you have to take US31 exit south of town - the Hoover & Vestavia Hills exit. Head north on US31 - towards Vestavia Hills - Mark's Outdoors is on your left ~ .5 mile from I-65 - big American flag out front. More parking around back. Only open 8-6 M-Sat. 1-205-822-2010. Guns, bows & arrows, clothes, you name it - outdoor fun store - locally owned. My interest there... knives! You can find bargains - you can find knives you'll have to finance. Gerbers to CRK & WH. Custom knives, too- even some Arno Bernard offerings (Randy liked my examples!). Benchmade, Buck, Case, Kershaw/ZT, ... you name it - they have it. CrimsonTideShooter had a video highlighting the store. The salesman, Randy Yerkes, is top-drawer, too - as is his sidekick, Johnny. When you enter the store look to your left... the head of a long series of display cases of knives will greet you.

They have a lot of current 'hard to get' knives. Heck, I was in a couple of Saturdays ago - finally decided I wanted a ZT-0561 - gone from the usual web sites - picked an unopenned one from stock at Mark's! I was in today - the ZT-0560/561 stash finally appears gone. But - he has some ZT-0550 & 0551's! And even a new Kershaw 4001SW left, too. Real Hinderers - and Doziers, too. DPX HEST/f 2.0, etc. Gasp, apologies to some, even an unreal collection of Microtech... including the Matrix and Whale. I am fortunate to have such a collection this close to me. I can see and fondle really neat new offerings. I understand his pricing can't be mail order pricing - they have a real B&M store to take care of - employees - and overhead (A/C - this is the deep south!). Friendly salesfolk - an oddity these days. And, he hands me a $2,500 knife to peruse as if I could afford it... flattery. My credit card quivers whenever I stop by. I just had to share my good fortune. If you are looking for a knife, call Randy - he ships stateside regularly. Just a happy customer wanting to 'share' some good news. Expect to spend some time there! They take trades, too.

Stainz

PS His knife counter includes flashlights... tons of Surefire LEDs!
 
Good info. I am at Barber for all thier motorcycle events. Next time I'm there I'll visit Mark's. Mobile Al. has nothing in the way of a decent knife store.
 
Foley has the St. Nick Knife Shop in the outlet mall - a crammed pack store of unreal offerings, too.

Stainz
 
True Mark's Outdoors story: They are a large sunglasses dealer as well. A few years ago I was looking at sunglasses there and mentioned to the salesman that I had a pair of Maui Jims that had broken out where the titanium stud is attached to the lens, and the store where I bought them told me to send them back to the manufacturer. I asked the
Mark's guy if he thought the manufacturer would make good on them. He told me to bring them in and he would replace them. "You understand I didn't buy them here?" I said.
"I don't care." he replied. I did, and he did. I will not buy sunglasses anywhere else from now on.

If you are into high end 1911's you can find a stock of Ed Brown and Nighthawk there, too, and they occasionally stock a few Wilson and Les Baer.

I occasionally take my adult daughter in there, who is permanently brain damaged from a hit and run about 9 years ago. She loves knives and handguns, SIG's in particular. They are always very willing to take items from the display cases and very patiently let her handle them,
even though they know she won't be buying anything. Good guys!
 
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They need to hire someone to clean up their website. It's enough to give a healthy man a seizure.
 
Found this old thread as I was doing a google search for Mark's Outdoors. Bought a mini Commander from Marks and i'm concerned it is fake. They are an authorized dealer and carry very very high end knives. The box fits the profile for a fake. The logo on the blade seems off. I'm certainly no expert. got some info from the site below but who knows how accurate that is.

http://pcknives.com/fake.htm

What should I do? Call Marks and tell them I think they sold me a fake? Send knife to Emerson for confirmation?
 
If you bought it in the last few days and have not used it and still have the box and all of the paperwork it came with I would just return it and don't mention anything . If you paid with a credit card that should not be a problem at all. If they refuse to take it back nicely ask to see if they have any more in stock and see if any of them are exactly like yours including the box and everything. If they are then they can't accuse you of possibly exchanging the real one for a fake one. At that point either they are all fake or all genuine. I wouldn't be so concerned about the box but would be about the knife. How does yours stack up against that website you linked?

If the ones in stock at the store are different from yours including the knives, not just the box, you may have a problem. Possibly someone pulled a fast one on them and bought a real one and returned a fake one.

I always pay with a credit card for everything I buy just for the consumer protection offered.
 
1badfish said:
Found this old thread as I was doing a google search for Mark's Outdoors. Bought a mini Commander from Marks and i'm concerned it is fake. They are an authorized dealer and carry very very high end knives. The box fits the profile for a fake. The logo on the blade seems off. I'm certainly no expert. got some info from the site below but who knows how accurate that is.

http://pcknives.com/fake.htm

What should I do? Call Marks and tell them I think they sold me a fake? Send knife to Emerson for confirmation?
Click to expand...

You really need to take some pictures and post them. I've owned Emerson knives for 10 years and while I am not an expert in all things related to their knives a fake is a bit easier to spot after seeing and handling them for a decade. Or, you can email clear, well lit, focused pictures to Emerson directly and they will tell you if it is real or not. It's very rare that a store will sell you a counterfeit item, they get their stuff directly from the manufacturer as do most brick and mortar stores. Even some that go through wholesalers.
The problems you are describing usually arise from someone selling an item that has been bought and sold a couple times prior. It is entirely possible that someone bought a real deal, stuffed a counterfeit item into the box and returned it to the store.
 
In no way am I accusing the store of knowingly selling me a counterfeit. Obviously I do not know whether it is or not.
If iis counterfeit they themselves were somehow scammed. I'll post up some comparison photos later.

Actually, If you check out Emerson knives on the book of face and look at posts to page, you'll see the photos I took comparing the suspect knife with a known genuine. Same goes for Blade HQ's page.
 
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Top box is from my CQC15. I know it's genuine. The red fades to almost white on the logo. Bottom is from the new suspect Mini Commander. Logo is straight red and resembles those I've read about on other forums warning shoppers of counterfeits.
 


End of suspect box. Seems wrong.



Second photo is of the genuine box.



Suspect mini Commander. Characters are not clear. The word Knives, Inc. under Emerson is illegible.



Photo of genuine logo. Crappy photo but the characters are much more clear.



Genuine gimping on locker.



suspect Commander. Sharper edges. Again, i'm going off warnings from other forms.
 
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That is a tough call, no doubt. Maybe we should get this thread moved over to the Emerson section and see what the other folks say? Let me know and I can trim this and turn it into a thread for you.
 
I'm assuming you purchased this in the store and not off their website? I'm not aware that they do online sales. I used to frequent that store and have my own opinions about them. I only go now to handle items I plan on buying elsewhere. I don't have Emersons and know little about them, but it would not surprise me if you bought a secondhand knife from there and they didn't catch it was a fake. I've seen a couple things in the knife case that have raised my eyebrows in the past (not fakes though). I'm sure they'll accept the return, but if you feel like it's fake or another Emerson expert can confirm, then you should let Randy know about it. I guess the knife was sold as a new knife also correct?
 
Knife was indeed Sold as new. There's no way (if it's fake) they knew about it. That could bruise their reputation because i got a big mouth and run in circles that take such things seriously. I'm going by there today and discuss it with them. They'll think I'm nuts of course. Right now im not pissed just curious. If confirmed fake, I want to know where they got it from.

IF ITS NOT FAKE i'll state for the record that im very disappointed in the finish.
 
FWIW there's an Emerson for sale in the exchange right now that shows the box having the full red logo without the fade. Again, I'm no Emerson expert by any means just wanted to point this out.

The thing I don't like is the attempt of selling me a second hand knife that is not listed as such. I've seen an orange handle Benchmade Ritter Mini Grip in there for sale which I know for a fact is a Knifeworks exclusive, and a large micarta Sebenza 21 with blue lug that was pretty worn and a large mark on the butt of the knife that looked like it'd been dropped with a poorly centered blade. The micarta with blue hardware are a True North Knives (unless it was a silver lug returned to CRK to have a blue installed) exclusive not to mention the missing lanyard that let me know it'd been taken apart. I've never seen a knife listed in there as used nor had them mentioned to me that they were secondhand when I've asked to handle them.

I have purchased a Sebenza from them that they were willing to haggle on, but I got to choose from 3 and examined them very thoroughly. I'm not sure the story of the 2 knives above, it makes me uneasy dealing with them, but Randy is about the only reason I care to go in that store now. Great guy but I hope he isn't allowing or participating in unscrupulous practices there. As far as guns go, there's a lot better small businesses in the area that are worthy of my money, and they're a hell of a lot nicer too.
 
You know, there's fake everything from watches to sunglasses and women's purses. But its entirely possible the whole "fake emerson" thing is merely hype. Im wondering how prevalent the counterfeit knife biz can actually be. I've read posts from Mr. Emerson tho that suggested the company has fakes returned to them all the time for service by unsuspecting customers who had no idea their knife was a counterfeit. That could add a certain level of eliteness in the minds of some would be buyers. Add a little mysticism to a product. The elusive GENUINE Emerson. Silly really. As I stated above im just so curious at this point as to why there appears to be slight variances in my two knives and their respective packaging. Paid nearly identical price for both. Its not as if the suspect commander was $30. They each were in the $200 range. Im leaning toward sending them both to Emerson. Again, how silly and a little bit vain on my part.
 
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