Craftsman Tools at Ace Hardware

[rocketman]

Just hit the news here in Chicago:

Sears Holdings Corp. agreed to sell Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware stores starting in May, marking the first time a retailer outside of Sears Holdings will carry the proprietary brand.

About 100 Ace stores will sell Craftsman tools including hand tools and portable power tools. By June, Ace will promote Craftsman products to its 4,500 Ace stores.

 

[wbclassics]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

 

[toolnut]

I guess that's the solution when your own store brand is completely made overseas....

 

[Fedwrench]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

You did. Fastenal is phasing out Craftsman for Gearwrench.

 

[mrb]

wierd. sears owns orchard supply hardware and they have been replacing all the craftsman there with all sorts of wierd stuff (channellock screwdrivers for example)

looks like this is another big blow to pratt-read...

 

[back2class]

Last year Sears made Craftsman brand more of an seperate company within Sears than it had been prior. It is one of the companies valuable assets. One would assume this was done to possibly prepare it to be sold. It is nice to have an outlet for Craftsman other than Kmart and Sears...both seem doomed. My guess is this is the begining of some big changes for the brand. I think Ace tools are made by Danaher or at least some are.

 

[Zrexxer]

marking the first time a retailer outside of Sears Holdings will carry the proprietary brand.

Short memory, apparently... they sold Craftsman at Western Auto stores for a few years here, as well.

 

[usmc_noma]

i know ace carries gearwrench that are labeled as both ace/gearwrench products.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

You did. We have one here and its full of Craftsman tools. You can even warranty them there.

 

[chadster1]

Well, this will give people more places to go for warranty service. It should be a good thing for the craftsman brand.

 

[Tennesseepowerstroke]

This could be part of the Evolve strategy.

 

[tonydanzah]

nice. This moves craftsman from 4 miles to 500 ft to my house

 

[Joe H]

nice. This moves craftsman from 4 miles to 500 ft to my house

Yeah pretty much the same situation as me. Ace is like 5 min from my house and just a stones throw from where I work. I hope the selection of craftsman stuff is good at Ace.

 

[TireTracks]

Hmmmm, this should be interesting, ACE is only a few miles from my house.

So does this mean if i break my pretty nice ACE tools, i get craftsman? :scratch:
Wonder how they are going to price them.
Everything i have that's ACE brand is pretty nice, almost nicer than my craftsmans.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Probably necessary since SK can't seem to ship any product. Ace was always the place to go as a 10 year and stand there and drool over the SK display.

TheGrooveking

 

[TireTracks]

Probably necessary since SK can't seem to ship any product. Ace was always the place to go as a 10 year and stand there and drool over the SK display.

TheGrooveking

Your ace sells SK?

 

[usmc_noma]

i wish the numerous ace's you find out there didn't differ so much in the tool selection. there's one near downtown here that has a huge selection of tools from hand to power. there's a lot of us made items too. another one that's closer has very few tools unless they're imported cheap ****. i was disappointed my first time in the closest store after being to the other one.

the one that was three miles from my house closed and is now a consignment type shop.

 

[stricht8]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

So have I and for more money.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Your ace sells SK?

They did for over 50 years, up until about 1.5 years ago and evne then they had inventory that slowly dwindled, thanks in part to the Sears Hardware being no less than 1,000 feet from them. The owner of local Ace is 2nd generation and has been very successful. He and his family have bought up 6 other local Ace hardwares. The main/original one has a tool department that rivals or is better than the big box stores. The only locally (within 20 miles or more) that compares is Berland's House of Tools.

TheGrooveking

 

[mooman]

Which Ace is that? I live near Berlands.

 

[fordbroncodave]

it is a backup plan in case sears goes under to keep the craftsman branch alive (essentially the only thing worthy that comes out of sears)

 

[BL50]

i wish the numerous ace's you find out there didn't differ so much in the tool selection. there's one near downtown here that has a huge selection of tools from hand to power. there's a lot of us made items too. another one that's closer has very few tools unless they're imported cheap ****. i was disappointed my first time in the closest store after being to the other one.

the one that was three miles from my house closed and is now a consignment type shop.

That's because all Ace hardware stores are independantly owned ... owners are free to stock what they want depending on how they view their individual markets. Hand tools typically have a small profit margin and power tools even have less. I manage an Ace store in Michigan and look forward to learning more about the Craftsman deal, although it probably won't happen until later this summer.

 

[Flathead Red]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

I was just in Fastenal yesterday here in North Vegas and they had a couple CMan items

Red

 

[kburns]

This is interesting. I recall reading in a business publication maybe a few months or a year or so ago that ownership of 3 of the major brand names associated with Sears had changed hands. As best as I can remember Craftsman and Diehard were 2 of them, I can't remember what the 3rd one was. At the time I didn't think too much about it, figuring that this was probably just a technical detail within the KMart/Sears deal. But maybe it was the first step in restructuring the marketing of these goods.

A lot of people on this forum have been remarking in recent months about the latest Sears tool catalogs and how they seem to emphasize Craftsman tools less than in the past and competitive brands more. On the Sears website, there are a lot of brand names to pick from other than Craftsman.

I don't know what to make of it all. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I wouldn't think that Sears will just disappear, but a major shift in marketing strategy wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Kjbakke2]

I swear I've seen Craftsman stuff in Fastenal.

you have.....they have sold it for a while....but will soon stop selling

another thing i have noticed is that the ace pliers i believe are made by williams....exactly the same handles and what not

then again the gearwrench soft handles and the snap on soft handles have the exact same shape as well

 

[Joe B.]

This is interesting. I recall reading in a business publication maybe a few months or a year or so ago that ownership of 3 of the major brand names associated with Sears had changed hands. As best as I can remember Craftsman and Diehard were 2 of them, I can't remember what the 3rd one was.

The third was Kenmore. They are still all owned by Sears Holdings. They are just being operated as a semi-autonomous business.

 

[Zrexxer]

Was that when Sears owned Western Auto?

Ahhh, you know what, that's probably it... I've got a short memory too!

 

[Builder302]

marking the first time a retailer outside of Sears Holdings will carry the proprietary brand.

I bought Craftsman hand tools in Kroger grocery stores before, only lasted for a few months though

 

[Tool Pants]

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-ma...-to-sell-craftsman-tool-brand-at-ace-hardware

 

[wyndycity]

Now that Ace may be stocking Craftsman tools, I just hope people don't abuse the warranty system because most of those Ace's are independently owned because it could turn out to be another headache for them. It's hard enough for them to keep from being pushed out by the big box stores.

 

[stricht8]

Wonder how high they will mark up the Cman tools? A set of Wiss tin snips costs 5-6 dollars more at ACE than it does at HD. I understand mark up but that is just not cool.

 

[SILVERPLATE]

I received a catalog today in the mail from www.autobodytoolmart.com and they cary Craftsman tools.

 

[Zeke]

wierd. sears owns orchard supply hardware and they have been replacing all the craftsman there with all sorts of wierd stuff (channellock screwdrivers for example)

looks like this is another big blow to pratt-read...

That's because Sears now only holds about 50% of the stock and there is an option for another company (Aries Holdings) that holds the other approximately 50% to pick up controlling interest.

My local store confirms that OSH is trying to return to its roots and dump Sears related brands.

It's high time because the chain was headed for doom.

 

[comedyman809]

i see craftsman stuff all the time at grainger.

i bought a bench grinder stand, and it says....craftsman...logo and all.

 

[comedyman809]

3 pages of items on grainger....

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ww...ftsman&op=search&Ntt=craftsman&N=0&sst=subset


the bench frinder stand is now made by dayton....the pic is exact as the one i have except they contracted a new company or themselves(dayton) to make the stand. great stand by the way!!

 

[comedyman809]

msc too....do a search for craftsman on mscdirect. plenty of crafstman items. and this has been like this for a while at least 2 or 3 years.....probably longer

 

[Stuey]

msc too....do a search for craftsman on mscdirect. plenty of crafstman items. and this has been like this for a while at least 2 or 3 years.....probably longer

Yes, but those are industrial suppliers. Aside from Sears (and KMart, etc), OSH, and Amazon, what other consumer retail stores carry new Craftsman tools?

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I was at ACE today to get some light bulbs. I took a stroll down the tool eisle and found quite a few US made tools. Most of the name brand tools like Knipex, Klien, Channel Lock, etc. were under lock and key...

 

[comedyman809]

gotcha. well, if ace sells it, then that would be better for all as you have more options for where to go to buy/replace tools!!


plus, you dont have to tell your wife about this, so you can tell yor wife your going to ace, and she will think your looking for house related items, meanwhile you can look at craftsman tools instead!!!

 

[Scout Driver]

I've seen Craftsman at Acme Electric/Tool Crib, as well as Fastenal.

Scott