Craftsman Brand sold ..........

[asphaltgambler]

Sears sold the brand to Stanley tools............. completely. Not sure if this is su-prising news but seems to me about the only thing left that sets Sears apart, quality brands. I know Sears has long lost its mass retail appeal but what's left of their empire and legacy that represents value?

Sad really to a certain age group.

[Amail]

Kenmore - Solid as Sears.

Guess I won't be buying anymore Kenmore products!

[aigel]

Only reason to visit a Sears for me (EVER) was tools.

What does this mean to the lifetime warranty? Where do I bring my mangled screwdrivers now?

G

[Dantilla]

I'm not a mechanic- just a moron who likes tinkering on cars. Not worth it to me to pay Snap-On prices, so most of my hand tools are Craftsman.

But not the newer ones. Bought a set of Husky-brand wrenches from Home Despot, and am pleased with them. Cobalt tools over at Lowes don't look bad, either.

I just know I'm done with Sears. Too bad. Used to have good quality merchandise at fair prices.
Others had higher quality (Snap-On, Matco), or lower prices (Harbor Fright), but Sears always offered good value- Never a rip-off.

[BeyGon]

Stanley Black and Decker bought the tool line and will manufacture them in the USA. More jobs coming back to America.

[Craig T]

Stanley Black and Decker acquired it for only $900MM, including earn-out and retention contingencies. They could end up with it even cheaper if sales retention efforts are not successful. What a shame. To think the retail empire who built the Sears Tower is now reducing to an auto repair franchise, with a small area of Kmart quality clothing.

[GH85Carrera]

Back in the good times for Sears they had a store just a few blocks from my high school. I don't know if it was on purpose but they had a very high pitch screech coming from the intercom system. Since I was a high school kid I could hear it clearly and it was painful. I had to stick my fingers in my ears to stay in the store. I bought most of my tools from than back then. On several occasions I was standing there with a finger in each ear with a tool under my arm to go to the checkout.

If is hard to believe such a great store has been just destroyed. Once they sold cars, houses and even pets. You could order a dog of you choice of breed from the catalog.

There was a time long ago I could spend hours in the tool department. Alas that tool department is gone forever. RIP. Sears itself will be history in short order. I can't see them around in 10 years max.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by BeyGon

Stanley Black and Decker bought the tool line and will manufacture them in the USA. More jobs coming back to America.

Good to know the tools will still be made in the USA. The Sears store nearest to me has been closed for a couple of years now. I miss browsing the tool dept. at Sears while Cindy shopped elsewhere in the mall. My rollaway is a 3 piece Craftsman set with the roller bearing "griplatch" drawers. Most of the tools also Craftsman. Happy I bought them when I did.

[Crowbob]

Sears is also closing a bunch of Kmarts or vice versa.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Sears is also closing a bunch of Kmarts or vice versa.

Yep, the Kmart closest to me has also been gone for years. The local small town Sears Satellite store is also gone. Evidently Sears is bleeding cash...Macys in trouble as well.

[sand_man]

Daughter and I quickly walked through a Sears several months ago when she was looking at luggage.

Her: "dad it smells bad in here and there aren't any shoppers". Yeah it looked like the brain was already dead, but the heart kept beating.

I have some of their tools from the '80s that I keep as spares/backups or for loaning out, but I have no reason to ever step foot in a Sears.

[Norm K]

Although I own beau-coup Craftsman tools, they were all purchased many years ago. Other than a getting a great deal (about a decade ago on a large two-piece roller Griplatch chest) I haven't bought a new Craftsman product in many years, although I did have to swap out a 1/4" and 3/" ratchet about five years back. Surprisingly - and disappointingly I might add - the hand tools offered by Harbor Freight, and the closeout tools I picked up at O'Reilly Auto when they were switching brands, have outperformed the recent Craftsman exchanges. Since it's pretty clear that my heaviest wrenching days are behind me, if I need something I don't already have it'll be the cheap-shit from HF.

_

[Crowbob]

Kmart got borned in Michigan and was the prototype discount retailer with the checkouts all in rows at the front of the store. It was an offshoot of SS Kresge's soda shop/drug stores. Decent quality at a discount price. I used to hang in college with a son of one of the founders who were on an indefinite world cruise in their gigantic sail boat. I'd think about that on my way to washing pots 'n pans in the dorm kitchen.

The original Kmart store is slated to close.

[pwd72s]

As the OP said, sad to a certain age group. Another indication of how the country is changing...

I still have some Craftsman tools my dad bought back in the 1930's and 40's...

[wdfifteen]

It's sad. Sears was a real innovator in its day.
Craftsman tools have been available at ACE hardware for a couple of years. I didn't know they still owned the brand.

[Crowbob]

My dad used to buy Craftsman tools exclusively in the 60-70's. He and mom would go to Sears every Wednesday when Sears piled up their mark-down scratch n dents or whatever. You never knew what they'd come home with.

One time they brought home a dented or scratched riding lawnmower beast. A few days later Sears delivered another one to the house! They sent back the dented one. The one they kept had some kind of problem so they arranged a return/exchange. Sears didn't have one in stock so they traded straight-up for a bigger, fancier electric-start blah blah blah.

Didn't seem to me like a good business model. Parents loved it...

[JackDidley]

Once Sears was the go to store. Tools, clothes and appliances Now, forget it. In 14 I went in for a washer and dryer. The deal was done until the guy said they only deliver to my area on Thursday. Best Buy came on Saturday, when I needed it. Sears is like a ghost town now. Hate to see it but they did it on their own.

[bkreigsr]

I waited until after the holiday rush to get a replacement for my Craftsman 1/2" torque wrench that died in Dec. 'Salesman' sez that the torque wrench is only guaranteed for 1 year !! - calls the manager and sez they need the original packaging and copy of the 'lifetime' guarantee in effect when I bought the wrench in circa 1982.
Good luck.
Goodbye Sears, hello CDI (Snap On subsidiary) on eBay.
Who would spend money on a hand tool only guaranteed for one year? WTF?
Bill K

[Crowbob]

I've prolly got 20 different brand new Craftsman tools that replaced busted up, worn out and rusted tools I've found in parking lots and garage sales.

[Ferraripete]

a bit of a sad day.