The World's Smallest Niche Business

Written by Kyle about Korea, Republic of. Feelin' normal

I've been reading a lot lately about niche businesses. Businesses that find a small, yet passionate set of customers and make a decent living by making a product for those customers. Nothing, though, beats the niche that I just saw on the street outside of our apartment.

Admittedly, my Korean is fairly non-existant but from the looks of it, this man appears to have knife sharpening equipment in the back of his truck. Knife Sharping + Truck = Business Gold. Yes, he could very well be the world's only traveling knife sharpener.

This begs the question of what the customer base of a traveling knife sharpener could possibly be. What niche is this guy trying to attract to his sharpener on wheels? The only thing that comes in mind is the "people walking down the street with dull knives" niche. Or the serial killer niche, I suppose. Either way, I hope neither of those exist anywhere near my apartment.

But, mock as I may, the guy must be smarter than me because as we went to the other side of the truck, we saw that he had not one, but two customers!

Now that I think of it, maybe I should get into the mobile services business. How about starting a traveling bowling ball finger hole drilling business? Or mobile sheep shearing? How about cat de-clawing on wheels? Anyone with me?

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February 23, 2010 Greg Wesson: When I was a kid growing up in the suburbs outside of Toronto, Canada, we used to have trucks coming around with sharpening equipment. Mostly it seems they did lawn mower blades (all those nice suburban lawns to tend), but would happily do knifes and other cutting instruments as well.

As a kid, mostly it was just depressing, because the truck would come down the street slowly, ringing a bell, and you would automatically think "ICE CREAM!" It was constantly disappointing to find myself face-to-face with a knife sharpener instead of a soft-serve cone.

February 23, 2010 Kyle: Ha, ha! I can see the disappointment on the kids' faces now when they see the sharpening equipment.

February 23, 2010 Sofia - As We Travel: Hahahaha, well why focus on limitations instead of possibilities? ;)
That's so funny, I haven't heard of anything like it.

February 23, 2010 Alex: I hate to say it but I would totally take advantage of this business since I don't want to invest in a good sharpening block that I'll only have to abandon in a year. Dull knives are dangerous!

February 23, 2010 Kyle: The spaz is saying that dull knives are dangerous? Yikes :)

February 25, 2010 Bessie: It's sorts of occasions where not speaking/ reading enough Korean is a bummer. I'm sure he posts a schedule or at least yells great things like, "sharpen your knives - protect your wives!"

February 23, 2010 Olivia: I know traveling knife sharpeners used to be pretty big business in Italy. Now a lot of them have stopped traveling and just set up an actual store, which people see as a massive inconvenience. Fortunately, there's still someone near my Dad's office who comes by once a week to pick up and drop off knives if you don't want to walk them to his shop. Go figure.

February 25, 2010 Bessie: That's so interesting! I love little vendors like this, keeps the personal touch in life's chores.

February 24, 2010 Den & Sue: B & K: I hate to date myself but as a kid growing up about 2 miles from GCFD an Italian gentleman used to push a cart with all the knife sharpening equipment on it. It had a device on the wheels that played an odd melody so you knew he was nearby.

February 25, 2010 Bessie: I love envisioning these sorts of things. But I have to say, I see it in grainy black & white, so you have dated yourself, Den & Sue. :)

February 24, 2010 Linda: Guess I'll be dating myself also (as per Den and Sue) but growing up in Hyde Park, weekly a horse drawn (!) wagon jingled down our alley with a nice man singing out loudly, "Knives-o, knives-o, sharpen your knives-o" and he had PLENTY of steady customers! His wagon was frequently followed by a different horse drawn wagon, loaded with ice and straw delivering large blocks of ice for our ICEBOXES! If we were good, the iceman would chip off a shard of ice for each of the mesmorized kids to suck on to cool off on a hot summer day. Great memories!

February 25, 2010 Bessie: what a great story! I hear vendors like this going up and down streets in so many countries, but at least in Chicago I think it's a piece of history except for the ice cream man. Love to picture it!

February 24, 2010 Uncle Michael: Yes, I too remember the knife sharpener guy. There was one who went up and down all the streets of Hegewisch. It was less disturbing to know that in a neighborhood setting he was tending to lawnmowers, hand tools and kitchen utensils. I don't ever recall seeing a weapons sharpener in Downtown Chicago.

February 25, 2010 auntie donna: LOL@ disappointed kids thinking it's an ice cream truck.

February 25, 2010 Heather on her travels: Didn't knife sharpners tour around towns and villages of the UK in the good old days?

February 26, 2010 Kyle: Probably. It sounds like this guy is a survivor from a lost era of traveling knife sharpeners.

February 26, 2010 Nancy: Great story and, yes, I, too, remember a truck that would drive through the streets of Roseland when I was a kid. He sold fruit and vegetables from the back of his truck and also sharpened knives. So you could dice those tomatoes nicely when you got home!

June 18, 2010 alan: hi there
ive been a mobile knife sharpener in spain and the uk for over 15 years now 12 to the catering trade and 3 years ago i started offering my services to the general public via post or at local farmers markets and have had to adapt from just doing knives to a whole range of household items that have blades,and yes dull blades are more dangerous as you have to use more force and pressure to get the job done if you slip forcing a knife to cut this is when you can hav e anasty accident also they will cost you money as your taking longer to perform the job and your portion control will go out the window remember this ;sharp-knife are 2 words that should go together,sincerely alan

January 02, 2011 tony berlini: Mobile sharpeneing service is great, providing he knows what he's doing. a lot of fly by night sharpeners out there if u want to make sure before he touches your expensive knives ask him to sharpen your siccors and if he does this manually on his stone and your siccors cut he can then sharpen your knives too.

The World's Smallest Niche Business

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