They probably are being a little conservative as those are exp big ticket items to manufacture and send to every store, especially if they dont sell.
For the price of a full Icon setup it is more than the total inventory of a few aisles. Shoot take away other tool cabinets and power tools, you could buy all the rest of inventory in the entire store for less than an Icon setup.
Will be interesting on the pricing strategy over the next year. Either they wont be excluded from coupons or they will cut the price and then exclude them from coupons.
That makes sense, I suppose I hadn't considered it from a logistics standpoint.
I'd still like to see some of the hand tools in stores, we still only have the speed collar and torque wrench at my store, while reversible ratcheting wrenches are nowhere to be found. I'd imagine that making a little room for the items that don't have a cheaper alternative at least in the "smaller" stores would still be worthwhile, there have been plenty of times where I've gone to HF looking for a tool only to find there's not a single offering of what I'm after, much less different quality levels.
Got a question did you spend hundreds of dollars on Snap On Tools and have them fail and be useless? I spent more than that on HF junk I learned my lesson just try to help out those that have common sense.
You can use the term hater because it gives you the ability to avoid facts, and you can live in a fantasy that your semi pro HF box and HF tools will be just like a Snap On one.
Conversely, I've spent a decent amount of money at HF, and the tools have generally been just fine. Anecdotal evidence in either direction is just that.
Some people will use and abuse tools far harder than others. My HF grinder has been just fine for the past few years of moderate use, my ratchets have seen heavy use, as have my impact sockets, jacks and jackstands, locking pliers, and other items. My box is probably a step below the US General offerings. But at the end of the day, I'm still enjoying my hobby of automotive maintenance, repair, and performance upgrades. I'm doing home remodeling projects, learning more about woodworking, and slowly equipping myself to deal with whatever projects come my way.
I think this whole discussion comes down to individual needs. For some, a $4,000 used car will be just fine for day-to-day things, where others might need a $30,000 truck with towing capability. If you're just moving bikes around, you don't need the truck -- but if you're bringing a project car in an enclosed trailer, the $4,000 compact likely won't fare so well.