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Places to buy made in USA goods?

Rob F.

Diamond
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Location
California, Central Coast
This is a holiday weekend with no end of American flags waving reminds me to be patriotic. Seeing some of the posts in the closed boycot thread made me think of a great store I bought a can opener from a while back. My old swing a way canopener was wearing out so I wanted a replacement and come to find out that swing a way moved offshore:( It seems the employees were not in love with the idea of not making can openers any more so they purchased the tooling and re named the swing a way to EZ does it and they are might right here in the good ol USA. I of course purchased one and it was wonderful to use. I have broken or thrown away plenty of cheap can openers. It was really nice to have a good solid tool like the one I grew up with. Anyway a chef friend of mine was over BBQing so I told him about the new can opener, he said WTF are you talking about it is a can opener :nutter: But then a can needed to be opened so I handed it and the can opener to him, he then understood what it was like to use a proper can opener and was really impressed with it.
The store I got if from is a store that prides itself on selling USA made products. I know there are old threads along the same line as this but are there other stores out there doing this? I have an American Giant sweatshirt (made in USA) and it is really thick and very well made. I think they source everything made in USA for the flannel shirts, from the wool on up.
Link to sierra trading post:
FREE SWING-A-WAY CAN OPENER REBUILD
and since I mentioned the sweatshirt:
We Choose Evolve | American Giant
Please post other stores that sell only or mostly made is USA products, or industries that bringing work/products back "onshore". In other words stores or products to be proud of.
 
in Shanghai China there are massive tool stores where they had a glass case display of Starrett tools. if you wanted to see they unlocked it and let you touch.
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sort of like jewelry store of expensive stuff you ask and they take it out of the case for you to touch it.
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of course the Chinese brands next to it were not locked up. sometime Mitutoyo and other brands like German brands were locked up too. basically you could walk into store and buy stuff from all over the world. they got hardware stores like that too full of German stuff. basically high end stuff for homes for people with money. often stuff 10x more expensive that local made stuff
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not much different than HF store where some of the expensive stuff is in a locked glass display case and you have to ask to see and touch
 
When I buy just about anything and have several choices I look at the "quality" and the price. If one is cheaper than the other and looks comparable re "quality" then I'll go for the least expensive one. If both (or more) look to be the same "quality" and price then of course I'd choose the one made in my own country. Why would I even want to buy "foreign" when I can buy "home made"?

I don't think I've ever bought anything solely because it was made here. Still, who am I to tell others how to spend their money?
 
ZS instruments proudly manufactures Digital Readouts, Glass Scales, and Rotary Encoders in the USA. Headquarters and manufacturing plant are in Lafayette, Indiana Home Page - Digital Readouts, DRO kits & Replacement Glass Scales

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I'll just preemptively state that #13 is Not spam, as it's on topic and not just to hawk his wares.

I'll check out your site, I didn't even know it was possible to make such things in the US at a competitive price.
 
Harry J Epstein hardware store.

HJE Home American Made Hand Tools

They are great for hand and mechanic’s tools. They are my number one place to buy SK Tools
These guys have a great selection of ironworkers tools as well as a lot of other good tools, I buy from them when I can. I think the last thing I got from them was some wire wheels for the grinder, and some gloves.
 
Honestly I think this would be a nice 'sticky'

I am at the stage in life and business where price is not always the number one factor

Sometimes it is, but usually on things I don't need I say'I aint paying that much fer that'


A list of good sources is never a bad thing, even if I may frequently disagree with the 'why' of the promoters of them
 
Just a thought on the "made in USA" trend: IMO it's not all about quality. We American's are proud of ourselves, sure, but I think just the notion of supporting your own is a point few tend to consider. Too many people assume "made in USA" is or should-be tantamount to "highest quality", but IMO that's a whole separate discussion.

I like to buy american made stuff because I like the thought of my own countrymen building stuff, however high or low the level of quality is. Even when it's a 70+ year old tool, I'd rather buy it knowing some fellow American's grandpa put it together to pay the bills, rather than someone in another country. I'm not against other countries building stuff at all. I hope they have a similar bond with their own, but IMO too much of globalization is based on having things made ANYWHERE and not caring who is doing it, so long as it meets the consumer's needs.
 








 
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