Sears to sell Craftsman to Stanley/B&D

Apparently Craftsman was around before Sears acquired it 90 years ago. And now Sears is selling Craftsman tools to Stanley.

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Reply to
Leon
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Yet another step down.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Yep, not sure how selling off the better selling lines will save Sears. If you sell them, you get quick cash, but then what?

I think Sears will go out of business shortly. Been 2 years that I have been waiting for them to give up. Last Christmas, no one was in the store I went to, while all the other stores were packed.

The craftsman line is not what it once was. Too bad. But don't look to Stanley, B&D to bring it back. They are horrendous at managing the tool lines..

Dewalt, B&D, Milwaukee, Stanley, are all former shells of what they once were. The latest one to drop was Milwaukee, with people lamenting that the quality has dropped.

Even B&D coffee maker sucks now.

I don't see this as a bad thing, nor a good thing.

Reply to
woodchucker

Closing a bunch on stores too, it will not belong till it goes under.

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Reply to
FrozenNorth

I heard a (slightly) more in depth report this morning. They mentioned that Sears is considering selling off the Kenmore and Die-Hard lines of business.

I don't recall if it's just a consideration or if negotiations had already begun. Either way, the company is dwindling into nothingness.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Does not bode well for quality but I've got a few Craftsman tools and for parts and service I'm glad a company without a foot in the grave will take over.

Reply to
Michael

They missed the boat a long time ago. Sers had a thriving catalog business. They should have turned that into something like Amazon before Amazon started up.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Sears cannot survive at this rate, thank you K-Mart. They will still sell Craftsman but will not get the lions share of the profit from the sales. Right/in the next couple of years they get $900,000,000.

I have been watching the financials, Sears has been doing poorly for a very long time, not just in the last couple of years. IMHO they and Macey's were too wide spread, big cities do not need 10 stores, customers will drive to those stores if they want their products.

Reply to
Leon

Wow, Kenmore has had a good reputation and is exclusive to Sears. If they get rid of that brand there really will be no reason for me to go to their stores. But really Kenmore is simply a rebadged Whirlpool, Amana, GE, or Bosch appliance.

IIRC they have had 20 straight loosing quarters, they have to reduce their fixed expenses to a manageable level and get rid of the non-profitable stores.

Reply to
Leon

I heard that they were considering groceries ... " stick a fork in that one - I think it's done .. " John T.

Reply to
hubops

Kenmore is just other appliance manufacturers relabeled, guess some one will buy, P T Barnum is right again. DieHard the same thing.

Reply to
Markem

It's interesting but this announcement and several posts here on the rec with regard to the history of Craftsman Tools caused me to Google it a bit. If you're interested in this sort of thing, there's a pretty good Wiki at:

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There are several other discussions out there that provide interesting insight to the brand as well.

Takeaways?

1) Marion-Craftsman Tools, from whom Sears bought the trade name, doesn't appear to have been a major player. They may have had a product line involving "Ford Wrench(s)" but they seem to be fairly obscure. 2) Sears has NEVER manufactured any of its own tools (hand or powered). Most are contract pieces from other manufacturer's, sometimes nearly identical to their other products or with some added feature exclusive to the Craftsman brand. 3) Same thing goes for Kenmore, DieHard and that old second line of Sears hand and power tools, Dunlap followed by Companion.

End of an era, I suppose. Sad to see them go this way.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Sears today supposedly has value because of all the real estate it owns-occ upies in malls across the country. Not because it has retail sales. The s ales side started dying awhile ago. And likely will continue. K-Mart neve r upped its game to compete with Wal-Mart. So it is gone now. The Craftsm an, Kenmore, Diehard brands are all good. But now days its easy to buy the same quality or better easily. No need to go to a Sears store.

And I do not know if the real estate value of Sears is good anymore either. I don't think malls are the gathering place they used to be. Several of the older malls in my half million people town have slowly withered. There is a NEW mall that is a happening place. But older malls, no. New, yes. Times have changed and Sears did not change with them.

Reply to
russellseaton1

What value? Liability for rent I can see but the era of the mall is over.

Going back some years we used to go to the mall a couple of times a month to shop, maybe have lunch or at least a snack. I bet it has been

3 years since I set foot in a mall, but less than a week since I made a purchase on line. Sales on line are up 17% last year according to NBC news.

Amazon also lets me place orders in my underwear. Macy's frowns upon it.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

It is what they have to sell, the names. The bankers who bought Sear and Kmart are now getting they're money back. It is the way most mergers go.

Reply to
Markem

her. I don't think malls are the gathering place they used to be. Several of the older malls in my half million people town have slowly withered. T here is a NEW mall that is a happening place. But older malls, no. New, y es. Times have changed and Sears did not change with them.

I did say "I don't think malls are the gathering place they used to be." T o me that means exactly the same thing as "the era of the mall is over." T he value, or maybe old value, of Sears is its real estate value. I am awar e malls are not really the shopping centers they used to be. But all that real estate in every state in retail locations has value. Despite the prev alence of online shopping, the way I do a lot of shopping too, actual real estate space is still needed and valuable. There is still far more in pers on retail space shopping than all online shopping combined. Believe it or not. Add up all the grocery store, gas station, hardware store, Wal-Mart s hopping I do in a year, and it is a lot more than all online shopping I do. Suspect that is identical for everyone else. Everyone talks about online shopping, but it will never ever replace in person shopping.

Reply to
russellseaton1

I don't know how much real estate Sears owns, but mall space is usually leased. They may have more liability to the end of the lease that what the space is worth.

I agree that retail will never disappear, but look around at how much empty space is available. how many malls have empty spots? I know of three stip malls built about 8 or 9 years ago. One is 100% empty, the other two are 75% empty.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Turn the ones you don't close into K-Marts? ...and then close them next year?

There isn't a Sears store anywhere close to me, so I rarely go there (even though I have a Sears lawn tractor). One of the stores, on the other side of town, is in a mall that's so empty that a Korean grocery store moved into one of the anchor stores. There are so few people in the mall that you could roll a bowling ball down the middle of the mall at any time of day and not hit anyone. Nice mall, absolutely nothing there.

Reply to
krw

Around here, the more "modern" strip malls seem to be doing fine. The ones that have been let go, well, their anchor is a Good Will. A few malls were completely rebuilt three or four years ago. They're doing fine, too. There aren't any indoor malls in the immediate area. I think the closest is about 25mi (the opposite direction of our normal shopping).

Reply to
krw

The one in our town started at a K Mart, then became a Sears Essential, the back to K Mart. Closed last year.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

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