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Sears Sells Craftsman Brand, Will Close 150 Stores

Beaudreaux

Beaudreaux

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A sad announcement for two iconic brands. I grew up with Craftsman tools, and I gave my boys a set of Craftsman tools for their 13th birthday - a family right of passage.
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Sears Sells Craftsman Brand, Will Close 150 Stores | The Wall Street Journal

The cash-strapped retailer will sell its iconic Craftsman brand to Stanley for about $900 million

BN-RM623_0105cr_GR_20170105075323.jpg


By Anne Steele

Updated Jan. 5, 2017 9:48 a.m. ET

Sears Holdings Corp. said it would close another 150 stores and sell its Craftsman tool brand for $900 million, as the cash-strapped retailer continues to shrink and battle slumping sales.

Sears is flipping the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc., and it will license back the ability to sell Craftsman-branded products royalty-free for 15 years after the deal’s closing. The acquisition gives Stanley the rights to develop, manufacture and sell Craftsman-branded products outside of Sears.

Today just 10% of Craftsman-branded products are sold outside of Sears. Stanley Black & Decker said the deal will help boost Craftsman sales in untapped channels.

[...]
 
Sears/KMart is almost out of things to sell, It is almost over, there is no hope. There is a slim hope for JCP, at least they are reasonably close to breaking even, but they too dont have much to sell, they just sold their HQ's.
 
I am not sure if that is good news or bad, I generally view Stanley a a good brand, just not quite as good as Craftsman.
I know Ace Hardware starting carrying Craftsman stuff a few years ago.
 
longview said:
I am not sure if that is good news or bad, I generally view Stanley a a good brand, just not quite as good as Craftsman.
I know Ace Hardware starting carrying Craftsman stuff a few years ago.
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I feel the same. Stanley is great for the person on a budget, but I have more respect for the overall quality of Craftsman.
 
I hope they honor the lifetime warranty on non-power tools (They're probably legally obligated to as owners of the brand) and continue to stand by it on all newly produced tools going forward. That was always a big thing with my father, when you bought craftsman tools, you had that tool forever unless you lost it. Stanley is a solid brand, and they'd be fools to tinker with what has made craftsman successful.
 
Sears has been going under for years. I am not surprised, their management sucked. They ruined K-mart in a very short time after they bought it.
 
I quit buying craftsmen many years ago, the quality had fallen , i continue to use old craftsmen tools as they are very good, as someone who uses handtools on my job eveyday, i switched to snapon and never disappointed with them.
 
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A lot of these franchises brought it on themselves. Sears was one of the first I remember to start prominently in the internet sales marketing and when they did that they stopped stocking their stores anywhere near the manner they used to. I remember going in and them offering to look things up online for me and make the purchase to which I just said why bother? I can do that from home.

Id say about half the shopping we did for Christmas this year we did because the local stores carried more onine merchandise sales than in store sales. Again...why bother coming to your store?
 
MrPeanut said:
I feel the same. Stanley is great for the person on a budget, but I have more respect for the overall quality of Craftsman.
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S&K for me. Costs a bit more, but well worth it.
 
Master PO said:
I quit buying craftsmen many years ago, the quality had fallen , i continue to use old craftsmen tools as they are very good, as someone who uses handtools on my job eveyday, i switched to snapon and never disappointed with them.
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I have three brands of tools - Craftsman, Snap-On, and MAC. The last two are usually cost prohibitive for the average guy.
 
VanceMack said:
A lot of these franchises brought it on themselves. Sears was one of the first I remember to start prominently in the internet sales marketing and when they did that they stopped stocking their stores anywhere near the manner they used to. I remember going in and them offering to look things up online for me and make the purchase to which I just said why bother? I can do that from home.

Id say about half the shopping we did for Christmas this year we did because the local stores carried more onine merchandise sales than in store sales. Again...why bother coming to your store?
Click to expand...

Brick and mortar stores for many products are at risk of fading into history due to internet competition by on-line retailers that have little to no overhead and provide the consumer great service while the consumer sits on the couch in his or her underwear. Convenience that can't be beat.
 
Beaudreaux said:
I have three brands of tools - Craftsman, Snap-On, and MAC. The last two are usually cost prohibitive for the average guy.
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I've long been a Craftsman devotee. S/O and Mac are great, but like you say, expensive plus hard to replace on a moment's notice.

Replacement is rarely necessary for any of them, but in the rare times it is necessary it's important.
 
radcen said:
I've long been a Craftsman devotee. S/O and Mac are great, but like you say, expensive plus hard to replace on a moment's notice.

Replacement is rarely necessary for any of them, but in the rare times it is necessary it's important.
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the only tools i have made break on me is the newer craftsman,those made after 1990
 
radcen said:
I've long been a Craftsman devotee. S/O and Mac are great, but like you say, expensive plus hard to replace on a moment's notice.

Replacement is rarely necessary for any of them, but in the rare times it is necessary it's important.
Click to expand...

Two times I've replaced Craftsman tools, one was a 3/8" ratchet driver that the gear stripped, and the other was a 1/2" wrench that bent... well, that I bent by using a 3 foot long schedule 80 steel pipe as a cheater for leverage. Sears replaced them, no questions asked.
 
Beaudreaux said:
Two times I've replaced Craftsman tools, one was a 3/8" ratchet driver that the gear stripped, and the other was a 1/2" wrench that bent... well, that I bent by using a 3 foot long schedule 80 steel pipe as a cheater for leverage. Sears replaced them, no questions asked.
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I had a 3/8" ratchet fail for the same reason. Late 1980s. No questions asked. I liked that. Everything else has been solid for me.

Now, I did have to replace a whole set of sockets once after my kids spread most of mine around the backyard. I never did find most of them. (It was cheaper to just buy a whole new set.) Let's just say I was not happy.
 
radcen said:
I had a 3/8" ratchet fail for the same reason. Late 1980s. No questions asked. I liked that. Everything else has been solid for me.

Now, I did have to replace a whole set of sockets once after my kids spread most of mine around the backyard. I never did find most of them. (It was cheaper to just buy a whole new set.) Let's just say I was not happy.
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Just noticed you new sig - I like it a lot.
 
Beaudreaux said:
I have three brands of tools - Craftsman, Snap-On, and MAC. The last two are usually cost prohibitive for the average guy.
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I like DeWalt for power tools.

Snap-On makes great products but they're often overpriced in my opinion.

I've always liked Craftsman and thought they should expand past Sears, as Sears has been in a controlled decent for decades.
 
Absentglare said:
I like DeWalt for power tools.

Snap-On makes great products but they're often overpriced in my opinion.

I've always liked Craftsman and thought they should expand past Sears, as Sears has been in a controlled decent for decades.
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I also prefer the size and shape of Craftsman ratchet handles over Snap-On. Just a better feel and grip, IMO.
 
My first thought is that there are so many specialty store now.. Babies r us, Toys r us,, Gap,, etc... But Sears store's and Super K store's are not much different than Walmart ( merchandise wise).. And Walmart seems to be going gang busters with business.. I must admit, I can't remember the last time that I was in a Kmart/Sears.. mostly because I live in the country so they are not nearby. Plus I hate shopping...

Both Sears and Kmart have online presence,, they are not brick and mortar only... Could it be that there name's are so old school?? Younger people may like the more "hip" store's

The sears here in Fresno is an older store in a older mall.. the whole mall has a large occupancy problem. I suppose due to the area getting older/less desirable. I wonder is this is part of the problem. most of the store's are older, in older malls.. the outdoor malls seem to be the rage now..

JC Penny is in the same boat..

djl

They may just want to re make themselves,, Like KFC,, If you remember it used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken many years ago..
 
Absentglare said:
I like DeWalt for power tools.

Snap-On makes great products but they're often overpriced in my opinion.

I've always liked Craftsman and thought they should expand past Sears, as Sears has been in a controlled decent for decades.
Click to expand...

I have a large collection of DeWalt, both cordless and corded power tools, and love them all.

On a side note, my wife Yes Ma'am calls the battery operated DeWalt drill - the airless drill. I know what she means which is all that matters.
 
RetiredNSmilin said:
S&K for me. Costs a bit more, but well worth it.
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A bit more???? sandk is now more expensive than snapon. Snapon started making alot of their tools in taiwan, as did mac and cornwell, matco has the most us made of the big 4 truck dealers, and often the cheapest in price.

s&k used to be the cheaper american made tools, but with prices rising, they became expensive since they refused to outsource their products, almost all s&k tools are made in the us, the only ones not are rebranded tools.
 
Beaudreaux said:
A sad announcement for two iconic brands. I grew up with Craftsman tools, and I gave my boys a set of Craftsman tools for their 13th birthday - a family right of passage.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sears Sells Craftsman Brand, Will Close 150 Stores | The Wall Street Journal

The cash-strapped retailer will sell its iconic Craftsman brand to Stanley for about $900 million

BN-RM623_0105cr_GR_20170105075323.jpg


By Anne Steele

Updated Jan. 5, 2017 9:48 a.m. ET

Sears Holdings Corp. said it would close another 150 stores and sell its Craftsman tool brand for $900 million, as the cash-strapped retailer continues to shrink and battle slumping sales.

Sears is flipping the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc., and it will license back the ability to sell Craftsman-branded products royalty-free for 15 years after the deal’s closing. The acquisition gives Stanley the rights to develop, manufacture and sell Craftsman-branded products outside of Sears.

Today just 10% of Craftsman-branded products are sold outside of Sears. Stanley Black & Decker said the deal will help boost Craftsman sales in untapped channels.

[...]
Click to expand...

Craftsman tools have become crap in recent years, they switched alot of their production to china and taiwan, and their quality has dropped. This was the main selling point of craftsman tools, they were us made and cheap, and had a no hassle lifetime warranty.

Problem is stanley bought mac tools years ago, their quality did not really decline, but their warranties did. After stanley bought mac a broken ratchet you used to be able to swap on a truck later required it being sent in and getting a repaired one weeks later. Their warranty system is so bad alot of shops here refuse to let the mac truck show up, and it is not the dealers faults, it was stanley corporate.


I can imagine if they did the same to craftsman as they did mac, craftsman might end up fading away as a major tool competitor. Nowadays matco seems to run professional tools, they are cheaper than snapon, and they have the best warranty in the biz.
 
beerftw said:
A bit more???? sandk is now more expensive than snapon. Snapon started making alot of their tools in taiwan, as did mac and cornwell, matco has the most us made of the big 4 truck dealers, and often the cheapest in price.

s&k used to be the cheaper american made tools, but with prices rising, they became expensive since they refused to outsource their products, almost all s&k tools are made in the us, the only ones not are rebranded tools.
Click to expand...

I guess then, this is one of those, " I am glad I did it when I did " situations.
There was this auto parts store in La Porte that carried all kinds of S&K tools back in 1998. I loaded up on all I would need and double on the most I used. Glad I did.
Working on vessels, sometimes you get that sick feeling when you see your prized tool go SPLASH over the side.
When that happened to an S&K ratchet, a 6 inch extension and a 13mm socket, I got replacements for them but never used them again for aloft work.

...besides, CRAFTSMAN had the sockets I needed for RADAR work anyway. 9mm, 13mm & 15mm.
even then I would up using the flea market socket sets for aloft work.
 
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