Best place to Spyderco Knives

Interview with Joyce Laituri, marketing manager

How did you get involved in this business?

Spyderco is a family-owned and -operated business run by Sal, Gail and Eric Glesser. The company was started in the late 1970s, selling knife sharpeners from the back of a converted bread truck at state fairs (the family also lived in the bread truck).

What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?

We are fully committed to making reliable high-performance cutting tools that people can trust with their lives. Our competitors also make quality products, but have business models created on profit as opposed to strictly producing quality knives. This has given Spyderco a widespread reputation that is golden, and the perception in the marketplace that we are a much larger company than weare. Someone once said of us, “They are the mouse with the megaphone.”

What do you like best about your line of work?

Making tools people rely on. There is no better validation than customers responding with stories about how their knives saved a life or made a father extremely happy on Father’s Day or offered security to a soldier deployed in the sands in the Middle East. Doing something properly and having customers rely on consistency is paramount to our business.

What is your business’ biggest challenge?

Growing our U.S. manufacturing. We have always manufactured in Golden and in Japan. We are in the process of expanding our Golden manufacturing facility, adding more square footage, new employees and the ability to create new and more high-quality knives right here in our backyard.

Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:

How small we actually are yet how much we do. The fact that the family is philanthropically involved with the community (through) local charities such as the Colorado Alzheimer’s chapter, having a monthly lottery of knives we send to deployed servicemen and women, etc. I think the public would also be interested in the fact that Spyderco’s owners also manufacture high-performance carbon fiber sailboats in Golden at a company called Sage Marine. Both companies started with a great idea, a bread truck and tenaciousness, and has resulted in secure and enjoyable jobs for many Coloradans. Outside magazine has chosen Spyderco as one of the Top 100 best places to work two years in a row. We think so, too.

Business: Spyderco Knives
Address: 820 Spyderco Way, Golden
Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Founded: 1976