Sears: 'Burning cash,' closing stores

[chicane]

I'm not worried about Sears but I am worried about Craftsman:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/15/news/companies/sears-store-closings/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[ihateminimumwage]

Craftsman and Kenmore will be sold off to the highest bidder before Sears closes its doors for good. Hopefully someone else can do more with the brand then they have.

 

[Steinmetz]

Craftsman and Kenmore will be sold off to the highest bidder before Sears closes its doors for good. Hopefully someone else can do more with the brand then they have.

The marks will be sold to some anonymous holding company. I see the Craftsman brand being reduced to advertising **** on late night TV around Father's day and Christmas.

 

[panknuckshovel]

Maybe, just maybe there is the slimmest outside chance of a slight hope that the name will be acquired by someone who will make an attempt at bringing back what once was. Something like the people who acquired SK are attempting. Either way, as i have mentioned in other posts, i pretty much view the warranty as useless and have started grabbing and hoarding all i can find.

 

[jjoel]

agreed. I have craftsman sockets with the chrome peeling that I refuse to take in for warranty. Rather keep a complete USA set than a chinese one in return.

I have thought about selling all my craftsman stuff and going strictly harbor freight... same difference to me now.

 

[quattroJoe]

Craftsman and Kenmore will be sold off to the highest bidder before Sears closes its doors for good. Hopefully someone else can do more with the brand then they have.

^ Agreed. At one point I would've been glad to see the Craftsman brand carried on outside of Sears' mismanagement, but they've done a great job of gutting an iconic American brand during their long downhill slide. I could see Apex taking on the Craftsman name, maybe keeping it geared towards home DIYers and selling through third party retailers, and targeting Gearwrench more towards automotive, seems they are trying to break into the pro market with their tool trucks in the works. Shoot, they already make a good deal of Craftsman's tools already.

The article was pretty spot on, particularly the tumbleweeds-in-the-parking-lot comment. In a city with a population of around 1 mil in the greater metro area we have three Sears- two of them are so dead every time I go that it seems there aren't even enough cars in the lot to account for the employees! Hardly ever any more than one or two other customers in the tool dept when I'm there, and the employees usually seem annoyed to even have to ring out my purchase. The third location sees decent traffic and has helpful employees (typically older gents) but is always understaffed in tools while there are five or six employees idling in appliances. Practically had to beg one of them to ring up two sockets for me one day when the one employee in tools was processing a credit app and has two or three customers in queue behind that.

Not even sad to see them go at this point. I've acquired nearly everything I want from them that can still be found in USA made old stock. Most of my SYWR points get burned on Gearwrench, Channellock, Knipex, etc now.

 

[shanker]

agreed. I have craftsman sockets with the chrome peeling that I refuse to take in for warranty. Rather keep a complete USA set than a chinese one in return.

I have thought about selling all my craftsman stuff and going strictly harbor freight... same difference to me now.

same here.....I quit buying craftsman knowing that if I ever warranty something, that the replacement will be an offshore product

 

[Exceller8]

Yep, the end is near. I've been in several stores lately and the stock levels are very low. The stores are starting to look ratty which is a sure sign that they're in trouble as they don't have the $$$ to pay the staff to organize and clean. I'm pretty sure within 2-5 years K-Mart and Sears will be history.

 

[Two Door]

The marks will be sold to some anonymous holding company. I see the Craftsman brand being reduced to advertising **** on late night TV around Father's day and Christmas.

I think that is about all the equity the brand name is good for anymore. Without the Sears enterprise to give it floor space and stand behind the warranty, the brand is near worthless except for nostalgia value, especially since so many other brands have popularized themselves in recent years.

 

[sonvolt]

Their inventory is terrible, shelves are freaking empty and have been for well over a month. Hopefully someone buys the Craftsman line and restores it to its former glory.

 

[RCStocker]

There is nothing to sell of on the Kenmore line. All that lines is, is rebranded other products. It is a name only and they manufacture nothing. The name has a good reputation but that is all it is. In business school they teach you that there is not much value in a name.

As for Craftsman tools, all the power tools and equipment are really not good. I don't know any company that would want to buy the company.

I wonder why HP bought out Compaq Computers. All the women CEO's are loosing their jobs. Whirlpool bought out Maytag. May tag is ****! I dried it in my rentals. Everything failed, broke was on recall and pure junk. I knew better but I had to try it.
Expensive mistake. Company buy outs for the most part are to require assets.

Now that good Craftsman hand tools have gone off shore it will be very hard to sell because of all the players in the market. There are more tool makers than anything on the planet. By going off shore they have undermined their value.

Sears is now selling every ones brand and that only undermines their Craftsman line. They tried to move it up into the industrial lines but failed. Grainger and other companies sell Craftsman tool for 5 times what Sears does. ????? Every move Sears has made makes me shake my head.

When you go in our local Sears all you walk buy is the 3 thousand dollar refers. They have very few low end and a very sparse selection of mid line products. It is in San Bernardino which is as bad if not worse than Detroit. High end shoppers do not go in there. The store is a ghost town. I now the manager and some of the staff. They are looking for other jobs.

I really think US made Craftsman tools were the best tool value ever. In the past 7 years most of the Craftsman brand tools have tripled in price but yet you can buy them in large sets for $1.50 each or less.

One thing is for sure, where ever I go, everyone tells me they are selling out of the USA made Craftsman tools as soon as they get them in.

I made a good living with them before I bought Snap-on and other brands used. I like having nice tools but the C man tools get the job done and I don't save any time using fancy tools.

The past 30 years we have educated a lot of people without out a lick of common sense. They may have degrees in economics and business but they are totally clueless when it come to running a company. They try to get to much growth and when they don't meet their goals they think something is wrong. They have forgotten to give a good product at a fair price with good service.

Sears plays to many advertising games. I don't know how they can keep up. Their web site has been a total mess for the past 20 years. It is like playing pick up sticks. When you type something in you never know how it is going to land on your screen. It is a scrambled freaking mess!

Just pull the plug and put Sears and K-mart out of their misery! K-mart has file chapter 13 more than once. No one is sucking it dry. The is nothing left to even ****!

That is m 3 cents worth. An extra penny for Obama inflation.

 

[Davefr]

Craftsman and Kenmore will be sold off to the highest bidder before Sears closes its doors for good. Hopefully someone else can do more with the brand then they have.

I really can't think of the "someone else". Every other retailer has already established their own brand (Kobalt at Lowes, Husky at HD, etc).

The only candidate would be someone like Ace. (maybe Wal Mart but they seem to only want to carry the basics.)

 

[48RON54]

I have had a Sears credit card since 1996. Last month they sent me a letter telling me that they reviewed my credit and have cancelled my account. I hadn't even used the card in 3 or 4 years. That to me was a sign they are about to be sold. I don't think it will be long now.

 

[Zeke]

I don't see CM tools as being a stand alone product or business and I don't see the possibility that another retail chain would want the expense of reversing a reputation. Sears apparently never owned a stake in the factories that made the tools. Why would they? Sears has a reputation of beating down the suppliers until they can't make a profit and then just barely supporting them all the while exploiting them. It's their model.

Maybe someone will buy the rights to the CM name out of the bankruptcy but I don't see CM ever being what it once was.

 

[Garage Junky]

The local Sears near me (metro Detroit) is a ghost town, even compared to parts of the city and that's saying something! 2 of the 3 KMarts near me are in the process of closing and I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before the 3rd does the same. Shame to see a once proud American company get mismanaged into oblivion.

 

[gagreen]

The question is how well would craftsman be received without sears. Sure ace sells craftsman, but not in the way that even the sears hometown stores do. Will craftsman as a brand be able to survive without having easy access from the shopping malls? The craftsman folks are generally not the type who seek out tools but rather just want them to be locally available and easily replaceable. Craftsman being taken over by anyone else will result in lower availability of individual tools in stores and rely more on mail order. I don't see craftsman doing well without sears, they have a symbiotic relationship that wounding one can possibly have detrimental results on the other.

I don't think the brand will die, the name is to valuable. I do see them getting bought by another chain who will worry more about maxing profits from a name rather than quality. It'll be interesting, but I'm not optimistic for a resurgence in quality.

 

[lakota]

Craftsman and Kenmore will be sold off to the highest bidder before Sears closes its doors for good. Hopefully someone else can do more with the brand then they have.

The names will be sold BUT a new buyer would be crazy to assume replacement warranty for the millions of CM tools out there. I foresee a receipt to show it was bought under the "new" CM owner.

Some Kenmore appliance rate good under CR magazine.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Maybe ACE hardware will continue the brand?

 

[panknuckshovel]

I ordered a 10, 13 and 17mm cman pro online because they were there and i was assured USA made. I dont do much metric, but like i said i am grabbing and hoarding. All three of them showed up looking like hell, the finish was lemon yellow. Took them to the store and the guy acted like i crapped on his kids forehead when i wanted to swap them.

And if you are grabbing and hoarding like me hit sears outlet stores if you are near one, GOLDMINES.

 

[PugetDude]

It is in San Bernardino ... I now the manager and some of the staff. They are looking for other jobs.

I'm sure they appreciate you posting this on the net.

 

[Exceller8]

Maybe ACE hardware will continue the brand?

That makes perfect sense.

 

[mrpizza]

I think I'm going to slowly switch to kobalt as my craftsman stuff breaks. And gearwrench.

 

[panknuckshovel]

I'm sure they appreciate you posting this on the net.

There is nothing to sweat about it being on the net. If Sears was net savvy NONE of us would get away with our coupon shenanigans.

 

[organ]

Maybe ACE hardware will continue the brand?

It'll fit right in with all the other **** they sell.

 

[monomach]

I think I'm going to slowly switch to kobalt as my craftsman stuff breaks. And gearwrench.

Both of those companies are sourcing more and more stuff from China rather than Taiwan as time passes. If you want in on good Taiwan tools, I'd suggest going to Pittsburgh Pro for what you can. The selection is limited as such things go, but it seems like HF's been slowly expanding it to try to get a premium version of everything.

 

[mrpizza]

I have a pretty good selection of Pittsburg pro already, I like em for the money.

 

[Davefr]

The names will be sold BUT a new buyer would be crazy to assume replacement warranty for the millions of CM tools out there. I foresee a receipt to show it was bought under the "new" CM owner.

I think the new buyer of CM would be crazy not to grandfather in the existing CM warranty.

When I think of CM, the first thing that pops into my head is the worlds best/easiest lifetime tool warranty.

The backlash of not honoring the existing warranty would kill the brand IMHO. It's the last thing left now that quality is gone.

However I can sure see how the new buyer of the brand would not want to incur the liability. Kind of a double edge sword.

 

[Brownsfan]

I think a new owner of craftsman could get away with not dealing with the previous warranty if and only if they make it better quality. Then spin it by saying the previous tools were not quality and going forward the newly purchased tools will have the same warranty. Now the reality is the they will honor the old tools warranty and make the tools just as cheap and crappy as they are now.

 

[MikeF2316]

You Americans think you have it rough with Sears? Sears Canada started going down the crapper sooner and is closer to being down the drain. We got offshore Craftsman 20 odd years ago. In the last couple Sears has being selling store leases back to the landlords. Presumably the landlords can then get better, higher paying tenants. This, of course means the stores are closing, they're not reopening smaller ones nearby. And this isn't in smaller areas, this is happening in the prime locations, the busiest ones. And guess what - these store closing, lease sellback announcements cause their stock to go up! And if that's not bad enough, just this week they've announced they're putting themselves up for sale!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sears-canada-may-be-sold-by-u-s-parent-1.2642331

 

[RalphInCA]

Maybe ACE hardware will continue the brand?

I sure hope not. Just about everything in an Ace hardware store is way overpriced.


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[woodstockva]

Watch Harbor Freight end up buying them....no more pittsburg.....only craftsman

 

[ggoss]

And if you are grabbing and hoarding like me hit sears outlet stores if you are near one, GOLDMINES.

On this note, what Craftsman-branded tools do all of you recommend trying to stock up on (aside from sockets and standard DOE/DBE/combo wrenches), USA-made or foreign, in-store or online, while we still can?

I feel a little bad trying to milk them with SYWR points while they are dying, but not doing so isn't going to save them either.

 

[panknuckshovel]

Absolutely hilarious if harbor freight did. Craftsman might be a good housebrand for Fastenal, the few i have been in have a good selection of cman already and prices are basically same as sears.

 

[Casey69]

i hadn't been there in years, but i just went there this week to pick up a new kenmore fridge i bought from them online. i was impressed. got to sears, put the order in at the kiosk, & two minutes later the delivery guys were bringing out my fridge & loaded it into my van.

too bad for sears. they had a great run, but i think the walmarts & targets filled the need for cheap clothes; best buy, home depot, & lowes sell appliances along with lawn/garden equipment & tools; which put sears competing with some big names in just about every market they're in.

 

[panknuckshovel]

On this note, what Craftsman-branded tools do all of you recommend trying to stock up on (aside from sockets and standard DOE/DBE/combo wrenches), USA-made or foreign, in-store or online, while we still can?

I feel a little bad trying to milk them with SYWR points while they are dying, but not doing so isn't going to save them either.

Root through the racks and just look for anything left over USA made in the sets. Most of the open stock loose wrenches and sockets are still USA. Just the other day the outlet store just north of me HAD 43 sets of the seven piece 1/4 and 3/8 drive torx bit sets for $1.99 each.

As far as ordering online it is a crapshoot. Open up the chat now and just flat out ask if you can return it if it shows up as chinekey junk. Screwdriver sets are slowly crossing over as well.

 

[ggoss]

Root through the racks and just look for anything left over USA made in the sets. Most of the open stock loose wrenches and sockets are still USA. Just the other day the outlet store just north of me HAD 43 sets of the seven piece 1/4 and 3/8 drive torx bit sets for $1.99 each.

As far as ordering online it is a crapshoot. Open up the chat now and just flat out ask if you can return it if it shows up as chinekey junk.

Anything foreign but still worth it? More interested in quality/utility than COO at this point.

 

[tjpavlov]

I think that we are all missing the point on Craftsman. Yes, most people on this forum rag on them about their falling quality. It's undeniable. But I would guess that the vast majority of people in our country have no idea about all of that and still see Craftsman as a great-quality brand. Most people have never heard of Snap-on, let alone SK, Blackhawk, Enderes, or Mayhew. For most people, Craftsman is their first thought. And even if you tell one of these people that the tools aren't what they used to be, they always just say, "who cares if it breaks, everything is guaranteed for life?".

I think that there is value in the name. Imagine if Harbor Freight bought them....

 

[Farmall450]

I really can't think of the "someone else". Every other retailer has already established their own brand (Kobalt at Lowes, Husky at HD, etc).

The only candidate would be someone like Ace. (maybe Wal Mart but they seem to only want to carry the basics.)

Ace would make since but I don't think they're doing the best either. Walmart has stanely cheapo stuff.

 

[J king]

Agree there is a lot of value in name recognition.Someone will pay a lot for the name. It is such a shame for this to happen to Sears.I use to love walking around and look.Now it's a joke.Put a fork in them...they are done

 

[panknuckshovel]

I think that we are all missing the point on Craftsman. Yes, most people on this forum rag on them about their falling quality. It's undeniable. But I would guess that the vast majority of people in our country have no idea about all of that and still see Craftsman as a great-quality brand. Most people have never heard of Snap-on, let alone SK, Blackhawk, Enderes, or Mayhew. For most people, Craftsman is their first thought. And even if you tell one of these people that the tools aren't what they used to be, they always just say, "who cares if it breaks, everything is guaranteed for life?".

I think that there is value in the name. Imagine if Harbor Freight bought them....

You are absolutely correct on the who cares attitude. it is sad to me that if something does happen to the ratchets i got as a high school grad gift in 1989, the will be replaced with chinese ****. The warranty has been made essentially pointless to me and the name almost a joke.

Too bad Craftsman doesnt make a bean counting tool that could fail while the execs that make these decisions use it.