New Lowes store - Kobalt is alive.

[MarvinBerry]

The new Lowes near my house finally had their grand opening this weekend, been driving past a few times a week for months. Located on East Hanover Ave in Morris Plains NJ. Stopped today on my way to the liquor store. Had planned to avoid the opening mob scene but I hit the light red and it didn't look that nutty so I pulled in.

Looks like a Lowes. Doesn't quite smell like a Lowes... yet. Has that new store smell. Probably biggest difference was that about 9 people asked me if I needed help, some of them twice! That was odd but welcome.

Anyway. For a brand new store I expected to see a wall of red in the tool section but there was still a fair amount of blue. Sockets, ratchets, screwdrivers, pliers & so on... not a whole ton but enough. Even had cordless Kobalt cordless power tools.

Kobalt = Dead? Possibly over exaggerated.

Sort of expected that in a brand new store, based on reports here there would be zero Kobalt & all Craftsman but that's not the case. HUGE amount of DeWalt too which I wasn't expecting.

I'll probably be in here a bunch for a long while to come purely because its about 4 miles from home and now closer then any Depot and certainly closer then the next Lowes which is about 40 minutes away in Mt Olive NJ.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Kobalt - I was in a Lowe’s yesterday and there was a new-looking sign proclaiming hassle-free warranty process.
Surprised me.

 

[Sneezer]

The ones over by us have been clearing out a bunch of the Kobalt stuff. I think they are only carrying 2 tool cabinets and a workbench, the rest is Craftsman. They pulled half of their loose socket/wrench cabinets, and the hand tool section has been halved at least.

Their 24V power line is still there, but I see a lot of yellow price stickers now.

I may have missed out on the great tool chest sell off, but I did find a couple tools and a decent set to fill in some holes on mine and get a kit started for my son when he starts driving this fall.

 

[Chucktin]

Maybe to soon to RIP Kobalt? The two stores here seemingly 40% Craftsman 30% other and the rest still Kobalt. Well I wanted the 40 v hedge clipper so snatched one while they were there.

 

[Higgins]

Or, are they stocking to store with all the Kobolt tools remove from all the other stores around the nation ???

As the local stores around here are all RED.

 

[Chucktin]

Maybe new old stock?

 

[powertrip]

Its been said a thousand times on this thread. Kobalt is not dead. They scaled back the slow selling items and made room for Craftsman. The 24V is definitely not dead and have expanded this year. Kobalt has 2 new miter saws and a new table saw on their site as well as in store. The yellow tags are just like anything else they deem "new lower price", it goes on sale for awhile then goes back up to regular price after a preset time. Some stores may get a lot of Kobalt while other stores may hardly carry anything. Inventory varies by location. I have got my info from store managers and Kobalt themselves from their facebook page and emails. I have also went to over a dozen stores and seen the difference in inventory.

 

[jgromada]

my local lowes has a ton of Craftsman but some Kobalt. Not a whole lot of distinguish Kobalt at this point

 

[dr_clyde]

I don’t understand why people care? It’s a mediocre house brand from a box store?

 

[ekimneirbo]

I don’t understand why people care? It’s a mediocre house brand from a box store?

I'll put my Kobalt tools up against Craftsman anytime......

I have a ton of Craftsman wrenches and ratchets. Used to go to Sears every Sunday for the sales. Have 6 Craftsman top boxes. I went and bought lots of the 1/4 ratchets/sockets sets. Half the time the ratchets slipped as soon as I opened the package. The batteries are over priced and 2 yr warranty. Kpbalt 4ah lithium battery: Kobalt $49 3 yr warranty Craftsman $99 2 year
I went from Craftsman to Dewalt. Now I "only" buy Kobalt. If you haven't tried their battery powered drill, you are in for a treat. Plus they have a 5 year warranty on the drill and it only costs $99 on sale. How can you beat that?

 

[dr_clyde]

I'll put my Kobalt tools up against Craftsman anytime......

I have a ton of Craftsman wrenches and ratchets. Used to go to Sears every Sunday for the sales. Have 6 Craftsman top boxes. I went and bought lots of the 1/4 ratchets/sockets sets. Half the time the ratchets slipped as soon as I opened the package. The batteries are over priced and 2 yr warranty. Kpbalt 4ah lithium battery: Kobalt $49 3 yr warranty Craftsman $99 2 year
I went from Craftsman to Dewalt. Now I "only" buy Kobalt. If you haven't tried their battery powered drill, you are in for a treat. Plus they have a 5 year warranty on the drill and it only costs $99 on sale. How can you beat that?

Honestly I put Craftsman in the same camp as Kobalt. Mediocre store brand tools.

At least with Cman there was some of the nostalgia factor for some of the old guys, and they're owned by SBD, who is more likely to keep them around the Lowes is with Kobalt.

The big box stores are for emergency stuff on a Sunday. I try not to buy anything from there if I can help it, especially tools.

And to answer your question about "how can you beat that"? I buy nice, industrial grade tools from industrial vendors. Buy once, cry once. If I have any issues, I deal with my salesman instead of some counter flunkie at Lowes. I don't even have to leave the shop.

 

[woody 73]

funny story but not about tools...

The one lowes store by me has a uniformed policeman with a gun on his belt and he stands by the front door 24/7. The store is a big one and yet the stock is very small.

Go to the rich area of town and the lowes store is the same size, yet no policeman and the stock is overwhelming in nature.


I guess the area makes a big difference in what they carry.

 

[MarvinBerry]

I don’t understand why people care? It’s a mediocre house brand from a box store?

You may not care but some people do. I've seen multiple threads here asking about the future of Kobalt & how some people couldn't get their stuff replaced because there was nothing in stock.

I started this thread purely based on that observation. Personally don't own many Kobalt tools and what I do have is pretty basic & rarely used. At the same time I'm not really out to buy a **** ton of new Craftsman either.

But from one perspective, if a brand new store opened and Kobalt was gone or about to be gone for good then I highly doubt they'd have dedicated any space to the stuff at all.

Its really super duper awesome you get your tools from industrial supply. I get it. Do the same thing in my trade as a professional musician. I don't shop at Guitar Center, the big box music store.

But there are whole lotta people who buy their tools at the box stores including myself. I don't need a $100 ratchet or screwdriver to take apart and fix a guitar. Nor do I need one to build a deck or replace a light fixture.

Not to say I don't value good tools because I do. I don't need SnapOn quality but I don't shop at horror freight either. Again, just started this thread as an observation. Nothing more nothing less.

 

[dr_clyde]

I guess I was just curious if there was something I was missing. Seems like Kobalt has been getting a lot of press here lately, and I couldn't understand why.

I guess its just a totally different market, not meant for guys like me.

I'm not picking on anyone. If that's what you can afford or justify, then cool. Clearly there is a huge market or it wouldn't exist.

At the end of the day, I really couldn't care less where other people buy their tools. Different strokes and all that, I suppose.