Let's suppose that SHC closes every store in 2012 and liquidates. To me, the interesting question is, "Will a gap open that presents a profit opportunity for a new business? Or revival/survival of the Craftsman brand?" I think the answer is "No" for the former, and "Probably not" for the latter.
To me, the one thing Sears had going for it all of these years is almost one-stop shopping for decent quality tools. In the areas I've lived in, no one has come close to Sears' breadth of tool offerings. Harbor Freight, for example, has very little compared to Sears and the quality tends to be all over the map (though the price is almost always right). Lowe's and Home Depot have a decent selection of carpentry tools but a dearth of mechanic's tools.
There are many examples of brick-and-mortar stores disappearing in the last 10 years. Some of them simply didn't stand a chance against online offerings. Border's, for example. They might've survived if they had created a solid Web presence in the mid-1990's, but alas they dragged their feet, forever, and watched Amazon and even B&N eat them alive. Newegg survived because they wisely dropped their brick-and-mortar stores and went online early. CompUSA waited way too long.
My local chain hardware stores are awful. They're filled with things that have nothing to do with hardware. There are certainly good ACE hardware stores out there (I had one in the town I lived in a few years ago), but where I am now, the odds of me finding a tool or fastener I need in one of the three local ACE stores are extremely low. I can buy jars of hot fudge there, and greeting cards, candles, and a lot of other stuff that shouldn't be occupying space in a hardware store. But if I need a 25mm long M8x1.25 Class 12.9 cap screw? No dice. Even the formerly pretty good hardware stores are doing some of the same. My local McNabb's, which I used to like, is doing some of the same. 20% of their floor space is now Carharrt. I like Carharrt stuff, but I don't need to see 20% of the little hardware store devoted to it. Grainger? No thanks, McMaster-Carr's service and pricing is WAY better. Fastenal? Not for me. My local ACO is more like K-Mart or a Dollar Tree than a hardware store.
I would expect some smaller stores to benefit greatly from the demise of K-Mart and Sears. The CompUSA demise, for example, combined with the cluelessness of staff and uncompetitive pricing of BestBuy for anything computer-related, GREATLY increased traffic at the one remaining big computer store in the Detroit area (MicroCenter). In fact you're lucky if you don't have to drive around the MicroCenter lot for 15 minutes to find someone leaving just so you can park.
I continue to see new AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts stores open. They will benefit if they devote more space to decent quality tools (bring SK and Grey Pneumatic into the stores instead of just offering it online, and/or expand what's available from Duralast and increase the quality a bit).
I also expect the remaining big-box stores to benefit.
Who do I expect to benefit most? Amazon and other online retailers (including Snap-On at the high end), UPS and FedEx. I don't see a profitable gap to fill via new brick-and-mortar stores.
. Outlet was in the back corner of the K-Mart. Couldn't believe how much of a dump the place was. Like half the shelves weren't even stocked on the K-Mart side. 
