Sheares is at Selegie road now. Pretty near sim lim. From my experience, if you go there see see only, they will probably bo chap attitude.
Not all the staff are bad... some are pretty OK guys.
The way I see it is some of them have this mentality that if you go in wearing bermudas and flip-flops you're just browsing and probably aren't willing to spend at the prices they are selling. That and I've seen one staff in particular (a few years back) with a "couch commando" attitude. You know the type; wears BDU pants, drop-leg pouch with his iPhone in it and feels the need to tell everyone he meets that he has been there and done that.
Let's face it, almost every adult male in Singapore have handled a weapon during their NS. I go into a shop to shop, not to prove my manhood to anyone.
Above all else there are a few other reasons I do not shop there much. From a knife collectors perspective... most of the staff do not know much about knives. The selection of knives they stock are mediocre at best but that's probably due to the small knife buying market in Singapore. And because they claim they are "the only company authorised to import knives into Singapore" they feel their prices are justified. Let's face it, with the economic outlook we are all price sensitive but there's a fine line between covering overheads and gouging a customer.
My advice is simple... buy from them if there are no other options or if you need an item urgently. With the good SGD-USD rate right now it makes more sense to buy online. The custom issues isn't as bad as most new collectors think. Out of ten knives I probably get called down for collection maybe once. Those are pretty good odds I think; better than wagering your money on horses.
Aside from knives, they are the only authorised distributor for SI Oakleys and their prices are really good so I have bought from them but no, not knives. Maybe someone else have had a more positive experience with them but I have not.
Do share if you have had a good experience at Sheares recently. I sometimes wonder if I should drop by for a vist just to see if the service and range have improved.