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Sears sells Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker

wazzuFreddo said:
a place like Hilltop or Southland, downright depressing. .
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You got that right. Those malls have been ghetto for a long time.

Macy's will probably be forced to go upmarket as it seems the only ones that do well, or are at least not trashed, are in higher income areas.
 
wazzuFreddo said:
I'm not surprised at all, go into any Sears or Macy's at a place like Hilltop or Southland, downright depressing. People don't want to be bummed out when shopping or have to sort through disorganized racks and piles of junk. Especially when you can get exactly what you want from home with a couple of taps on your phone.

To be successful these days, brick and mortar retail needs to be an experience, not just a place to get stuff.
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What, we must be looking with different eyes. Pretty sure Macy's is the cleanest store I might step into; you sure you're not talking about Ross , Target or something else?

That said I haven't been to 'Hilltop'

But yes Amazon is the downfall for the stores.
 
wazzuFreddo said:
I'd make the argument that the Store in a Store concept is experience based. The Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft sections certainly are.
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but neither of those are really experiential shopping experiences

Nordstrom is a example of someone trying (I know people that go to Nordstrom just for lunch).

Home Depot is trying by offering DIY classes

REI does it with their classes

Closest thing that Apple does is their Magic Bar and even then, that's a service and not an experience.

Sampling Product (Samsung and Microsoft) isn't experiential shopping.

The goal is to provide you something OTHER then shopping to get you to go into the store, that's the experiential retail experience.
 
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Oh well, guess the days of Allstate Cruisaires, J.C. Higgins 3-Speeds, Die-Hards and the Wishbook are long gone anyway.
 
Two noteworthy quotes:

“To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley CEO James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.”
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So, Stanley may manufacture some tools in the US.

Sears could use the proceeds from the Craftsman divestiture to help defray its pension obligation, which is underfunded by about $2 billion, said Matt McGinley, an analyst at Evercore ISI. In the long run, the cash isn’t likely to change the company’s course, he said.

“I don’t think there is any viable path to any sort of profitability,” McGinley said.
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And Sears is on an inevitable path to insolvency.
 
Why would they expand a product line that is so intimately tied with the Sears branding?

Makes no sense.
 
aminalmutha said:
Which is exactly why it is a staple of the American handyman and shade-tree mechanic.
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It's just too bad our manufacturing base has all but disappeared and we've become a disposable society that no longer values fixing anything. Not too many people need (or want) tools anymore.

aminalmutha said:
They are/were better than the crappy no-name brands, but easily accessible.
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And yet Harbor Freight is booming. See disposable comment above.
 
AbsolutEnduser said:
What, we must be looking with different eyes. Pretty sure Macy's is the cleanest store I might step into; you sure you're not talking about Ross , Target or something else?

That said I haven't been to 'Hilltop'

But yes Amazon is the downfall for the stores.
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Go to the Macys in Southland, dark, disorganized, and depressing. Nothing like a store at Union Square or Stoneridge
 
Ah, Harbor Freight, the land where men lower their standards while getting slowly poisoned by unknown petroleum-based fumes.....I swear they pump in that smell so it will remind you of the creosote-coated pilings at yer local dock.
 
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Bay Arean said:
Why would they expand a product line that is so intimately tied with the Sears branding?

Makes no sense.
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It's the first of the big death throes when a company starts to chuck its identity in order to stay afloat. We saw that with Yahoo a little while back. I wonder how long the two of them will be able to stay afloat. The parallels between them are very interesting.
 
Dr. Evil said:
It's the first of the big death throes when a company starts to chuck its identity in order to stay afloat. We saw that with Yahoo a little while back. I wonder how long the two of them will be able to stay afloat. The parallels between them are very interesting.
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I work up the street for Yahoo!, lots of long faces over that way these days.
 
wazzuFreddo said:
Go to the Macys in Southland, dark, disorganized, and depressing. Nothing like a store at Union Square or Stoneridge
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Macy's is the Jos A Bank of department stores -- they're always on some kind of fake "sale". Plus they carry lots of fake Italian brands like Alfani.

Bay Arean said:
Ah, Harbor Freight, the land where men lower their standards while getting slowly poisoned by unknown petroleum-based fumes.....I swear they pump in that smell so it will remind you of the creosote-coated pilings at yer local dock.
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That's because the cheap Chinese stuff there hasn't cured yet. The plastic and rubber is still emitting petrochemical vapors. Check the rubber wheels on that hand truck -- they're soft as shit and won't last more than a couple years
 
Johndicezx9 said:
Sears was founded in the 1880's... it's been a good run. I'll miss it a little bit when it's gone.

As a kid, I remember it was the "go to" family store for just about everything, and just about every September, when you were back in the drudgery of school already, the Christmas toy catalog was delivered in the mail, a lifeline of hope to fun.

I still have my Sears/Craftsmen/USA made tool set I bought with high school graduation money in the summer of 1980, and they're still good as new.

Now if only I could find those Toughskin bell bottom cords in "husky".... :laughing

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Plus the catalog was grampas' toilet paper
 
Climber said:
OSH.

They have been stocking craftsman for years, Stanley is buying customers.
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Only about 10% of Craftsman sales are outside of Sears stores, according to the linked article in the OP. It sounds like Sears will continue to sell the tools (for as long as they're around), but they won't own the brand.

Since you mention OSH, that chain is owned by Lowes. I haven't read any indication one way or the other, but wonder if Lowes would sell Craftsman at some point. They currently sell Kobalt and Stanley.
 
tzrider said:
Only about 10% of Craftsman sales are outside of Sears stores, according to the linked article in the OP. It sounds like Sears will continue to sell the tools (for as long as they're around), but they won't own the brand.

Since you mention OSH, that chain is owned by Lowes. I haven't read any indication one way or the other, but wonder if Lowes would sell Craftsman at some point. They currently sell Kobalt and Stanley.
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If Sears does go belly up, the numbers could jump for OSH as Craftsman has a long history with consumers with brand recognition.
 
Sears was on the downturn before they were acquired by Kmart back in the 1990s. Been on life support ever since.
 
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