I think the tourist trap store referred to above is We Be Knives. Of course they are expensive; they have extremely high overhead. They have to sell a lot of knives to pay the lease for their prime location. But like you said, there aren't a lot of other choices to visit.
Having once been associated with a specialty retailer, I have a lot of sympathy for these small business people who serve a niche that would otherwise be unfulfilled. He went out of business because he got tired of spending a lot of time educating his potential customers, only to have them say, "o.k., I can get this at the super discount store for 20% less than you are asking. Will you match their price?" And the truth is that most of these businesses are barely scraping by, if not always one lease payment away from going out of business.
Of course you can get lower prices from the Internet dealers, but do you ever go into the store just to spend some time fondling the gear, and then go somewhere else to buy at a lower price? We are all guilty of that. But don't get down on a full price retailer just because the prices are high. If they are guilty of unscrupulous business practices, then that is a different story. But I for one am willing to pay a higher price (sometimes!) for a knife if 1) the store has the knife in stock, 2) I can handle it and make sure that what I am getting is perfect (a necessity if it is a Benchmade!!!), and/or 3) the store spends time with me in showing me the stuff and perhaps educating me on the goods in question.
I have been in We Be Knives a couple of times. They have a very good selection of production and custom knives. I appreciate that they are in business. I did not buy anything, but then again I did not waste their time looking at this and that and comparing their prices to what I know I could find elsewhere. I hope they stay in business. But they won't if no one buys anything.
