I visited my local Home Depot store to see what tool deals they had leftover after the holiday season.
They had tons of Dewalt tape measure promo 2-packs and other tool deals. These are good tapes and the price seems very good for what you get. So why are there so many leftover?
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee 2-pack tape measure deal seemed to be completely sold out.
Advertisement
They also had a lot of discounted Stanley tape measures leftover.
I couldn’t find any USA-made ones on the main shelf – it seems SBD might have changed production over for all of the Stanley PowerLocks tape measures.
It seems Home Depot didn’t sell many of these “as seen on TikTok” gadgets. How could people not want to buy an “orbit sphere amazing wonder ball?” Looks like something that would end up in the trash within a week.
They also had a lot of promo-priced Milwaukee hole saw sets.
These types of deals used to fly off the shelves over the holiday season. Has the trend come to an end?
My local Home Depot stores had a bunch of Husky ball bearing tool storage combos still on the sale floor.
Advertisement
I wonder if that’s because shoppers are headed to Harbor Freight instead. Personally, that’s what I would do – HF’s US General Brand offers more options, more colors, and consistent quality.
This Home Depot store did manage to sell most of their rolling workbenches though. There’s not a lot of competition in that space – I’d say the Husky is more compelling that Lowe’s Craftsman and Kobalt offerings, and HF’s Yukon model.
I took the above photos a few days ago, in January. The following photos were taken in December, after Christmas. I didn’t take new photos because not much changed over the week between visits.
There were a lot of Husky mechanics tool sets.
And also Husky flashlights and headlamps. These were among the few Home Depot tool deals that appeared to be discounted down from their Black Friday and holiday season promo pricing.
That’s the disappointing part – my Home Depot store had so many unsold tool deals that they didn’t sell over the holiday season, but there were very few clearance prices or further discounts.
There are some deals I regret not picking up, such as the Milwaukee 11pc combination wrench sets (the metric is sold out everywhere, and also at other retailers that had deal pricing).
I’m not interested in the leftover deals they do have, but maybe I could be compelled if some of the prices were adjusted. These deals have been on the sales floor since the start of November. If they didn’t sell out until now, what are the chances they’ll sell quickly without further pricing incentives?
I found a half-full display of Crescent Wiss sheet metal snips. There were also a lot of Crescent adjustable wrench sets.
I was surprised at how full the Ryobi USB Lithium promo display looked.
Maybe it was restocked throughout the season, but there are a lot of unsold tools here. Where are they going to go once the main aisle promos are reset?
WHY are there so many? USB-chargeable tools seem to sell very well on Amazon, so why not at Home Depot?
Dewalt ToughSystem DXL tool boxes and accessories don’t seem to have sold very well at Home Depot stores. Given the specialized nature of what they offer, and the high pricing for plastic tool boxes, I’m not surprised. I think they’d sell better at industrial suppliers.
Look at that dust! Who’s buying that at anywhere close to full price?
There were a lot of Dewalt tools and accessories in very full-looking displays.
I also found the Dremel tool deal display to be well-stocked.
We don’t know how many tools this store started off with. Sometimes the same display is restocked throughout the season, giving the appearance of slow movement.
Certain Dremel Blueprint cordless power tools, such as the oscillating multi-tool kit, are half-off online. I’m not surprised that this HD store wasn’t sell much at the full retail pricing.
Did anyone buy any Anvil scissor sets?
These scissors are very inexpensive, but they look cheap and I can almost guarantee that the handles are all-plastic rather than plastic over steel.
Everyone makes the mistake of buying cheap plastic-handle scissors just one. After my wife broke our office-type scissors, my Milwaukee jobsite scissors become a permanent addition to the kitchen tool kit.
There are ALWAYS a lot of unsold tool deals and promos at stores after the holiday season ends, but I wonder if there are new shopping trends that Home Depot and other retailers have yet to adapt to.
Robert
There were 4 or 5 different Anvil tools at my HD. All looked like junk that would break or disappoint quickly. Their bins were about 2/3 full.
norhco
Honestly, those orbit spheres are a blast. My daughter got one last year for Christmas and it’s a fun gizmo to play with when you get the hang of it.
Nick S.
I was going to say the same thing! My kids got a pair this year. They are super fragile, and one has broken already, but they’re a ton of fun to play with!
Flooring
I’m loving my DeWalt tape measures. Fits right in my hand and numbers on both sides of the tape. The Milwaukee tape measures looked pretty poorly designed tbh.
Mark S
I am also struck by the lack of deals post holidays. And same things in my store, a lot leftover.
The cheapy Anvil stuff is all marked down in my store though. The 3 pack of utility knives for $4.88 was a helluva deal. For $2.20 I couldn’t resist buying my third 3 pack. The levels were also $2.20, but even for that price the 24″ level is junk.
I wish I had the scissors set….my junk drawer scissors always disappear when kids borrow them. For that price I’ll put scissors in every room in the house.
One last thing…the Dewalt 20V battery and charger starter set went down to $89 ish dollars…..if i didnt have 10 batteries already I would have jumped on it. I cant find it but I think it was the 6.0 and 4.0 and basic charger. Good deals on that too.
JasonL
Been keeping the track on HD clearance items and TSC, not sure why there aren’t deeper discounts or at least a wider array of products with post holiday clearance. Would like to see what this looks like as February approaches
Will
I was worried this would happen this season. Poor sales this season, due to the myriad of economic reasons and higher prices. Companies don’t want to reduce profits, so they don’t seem willing to lower prices, even when they aren’t selling. Holiday deals didn’t seem to sell well in my area either. I didn’t buy much of anything this black Friday, as the deals weren’t very appealing.
fred
I did most of my shopping using %-off deals being offered in the weeks ahead of BF. Most of my money was spent on bigger ticket trade-specific power tools that vendors like Acme, Great Lakes Power Tools, MaxTool or ToolUp had with %-off deals with no max $ limits. Those deals seemed to be fleeting and disappeared by Black Friday. I think I’ve seen the same trend happening the last few years. So perhaps some of the online vendors are looking to capture your money early – then taper off if they meet sales goals. Anyway, I did not experience any buyer’s regret having seen a lower price on BF. I did bite on one HD deal on BF weekend – for what seemed like a less than 1/2 price deal on an M12 grease gun kit – for my landscaping contractor great-nephew.
Grave Digger
Where I’m at the regional farm supply stores ate Home Depot’s lunch on stocking stuffers.
Black Friday doorbusters included 35ft Stanley FatMax (33-735) tape measures on sale for $15 with a $15 mail in rebate. So basically free but you had to pay $1.11 sales tax on the $15 sale price. They also had DeWalt DWHT10997 2-pack knife sets on sale for $15 with a $15 mail in rebate. (This set was similar to the DWHT10996 2-pack knife set HD was selling for $19.88 but included the DWHT10993 Drop Point Pocket Knife instead of the DWHT10994 Tanto Pocket Knife in the HD set). DeWalt DWHT83550 TOUGHSERIES Construction Jacks were $49.99 which was half price. Lots of other DeWalt and Milwaukee deals that were competitive with HD along with some great deals on work gloves, winter socks, etc. They followed that up by selling 25ft Stanley FatMax (33-725) tape measures for $12 with a $12 mail in rebate for the entire month of December. Paying just the $0.89 sales tax for a 25ft tape measure was also too good to pass up and now every tool box, tool bag, and the center console of my truck has either a 25ft or 35ft tape measure.
TMedina
As someone else noted, there is concern about upcoming economic trends, the potential for increased medical premiums, and unsure job market.
I’m not surprised at either spending trends or the abundance of post-holiday stock.
Someone probably weighed potential sales with discounts versus earlier buying trends, and the relative cost of running a sale with little potential for return.
processwrench
Surprised at the Ryobi USB lithium levels at your stores, the two stores in my area are picked clean, some sku have a tag about being sold out on line as well. my wife has several of the cleaning gadgets as well as the fan and absolutely loves them. So i’m always on the look out for deals on this line.
TomD
USB charged tools are an advantage on Amazon where the average buyer doesn’t know or care much about brands and just wants a tool.
I suspect the Home Depot clientele is a bit more advanced and has at least Opinions if not firmly in a camp already.
Lack of clearance is interesting – either they don’t have a backlog of new inventory or they’re trying to keep valuation until quarter end or something. Usually they try to get stuff out the door to make room for next stuff.
Walmart has also been suspiciously recalcitrant to clearance the non-Christmas stuff such as excess toys.
Doug
For me, it was mostly the same stuff as last year and no compelling deals.
Stuart
Deal center items are always roughly 90% the same or very similar to the previous year’s.
Val
As far as I’ve seen, the only brand that had an actual “black Friday sale” was flex tools. Everything else the prices gradually came up throughout the year and they just lowered it by that amount.
Stuart
That wasn’t a Black Friday sale, Lowe’s was purging the brand from stores at clearance prices.
Val
I know, but that’s what black Friday used to be. Stuff left over through the year at extra low prices, not just a couple bucks off the “regular” price.
That’s what I remember at least.
Stuart
No. I’ve been analyzing Black Friday deals for maybe 15+ years now, and it’s never been “let’s sell whatever’s leftover.”
2,000 stores x 10, 20, 50, 150 deal items per store, plus maybe online fulfilment, requires deliberate production and inventory build-up.
20 years ago? I don’t know, I just remember checking out the sales flyers online in the middle of the night and heading out to Staples early to get a memory card for cheap.
Big Richard
Not necessarily a leftover, but a lot of HDs are clearing out this DeWalt 6Ah battery / 6A charger starter kit for $65 (though some stores have it at $89).
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20V-MAX-Lithium-Ion-6-0-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-DCB206C/331192549
Mark M.
Went to my local HD this morning (central TX) and it was similar, more clearance deals than usual but very little that I as compelling. I did pick up a 5-pack of Milwaukee OMT blades that was $15, marked down from $34. I needed some and that was too good to pass up.
Clay
I bought some more of the Milwaukee tapes. I find them to have excellent visibility and love having numbers on both sides.
I have heard anecdotally about folks having durability issues with them, but I have not thus far.
Another Bob
I wonder if the lack of clearance price is from new/more favorable negotiated terms with Home Depot and the suppliers. I know a lot of times HD don’t even pay for product until it sells. Also, I’ve heard that if they don’t sell anything with a certain timeframe, HD can return it back to the supplier. So if those scissors don’t sell, for instance, they just returned them back to the supplier instead of clearencing them and taking a loss.
I didn’t buy anything tool or tool related this season.
I do not like these spend a higher dollar amount and get a percentage off strategies. Show me a low price for a bare tool or a battery deal or saw blades etc and I buy it. I’m not spending $300 on a battery and a charger so I can get two free tools that I don’t need.
Also, maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see any deals on flexvolt batteries?
Badger12345
As I am sure many of you do, I know quite a few trades people and a lot of DIY folks as that is the nature of the blue collar neighborhood where I live. The trades folks are worried about work once the current contracts are done, so they are only buying tools needed for the current job. The DIY folks (which includes me) aren’t buying anything because for us it is mostly wants and not needs. The prices are not compelling to overcome the desire to hang onto cash for now.