Stanley Black & Decker is launching over a thousand new tools.
I posted about their new Craftsman V20 cordless drills, new Craftsman cordless power tools and combo kits, and showed off more of the new stuff on our Instagram channel.
Advertisement
There have been some questions as to where you will be able to buy these new tools.
Craftsman will be launching the new tools at Lowes stores (and online). There are other partners as well, such as Ace Hardware, and Amazon.
To answer a question that came up a few times, NO, you will NOT be able to buy any of the new tools at Sears.
Pointing back to our announcement of the Stanley Black & Decker acquisition of the Craftsman brand, there are 3 key points. The following are Stanley Black & Decker statements regarding their new ownership of the Craftsman brand.
Obtaining Rights To Develop, Manufacture And Sell Craftsman Brand In Non-Sears Retail, Industrial & Online Channels
Sears To Continue Developing, Sourcing & Selling Craftsman In All Sears Retail Channels Under Perpetual License Agreement.
Advertisement
Perpetual License Allowing Sears To Continue Selling In Sears-Related Channels (Royalty-Free For 15 Years, 3% Thereafter).
Translation (or at least my interpretation): Stanley Black & Decker can develop, manufacture, and sell Craftsman tools as they please, Sears can continue developing and selling their own Craftsman tools, royalty-free for 15 years, after which Sears will have to pay royalties to Black & Decker.
Additionally, on Craftsman’s FAQ, they have this question. Will Sears continue to sell Craftsman Products?
Yes, Sears will continue sourcing, marketing and selling Craftsman-branded products in their stores, independent from Stanley Black & Decker.
For what it’s worth, I also asked about this at the recent media event, and I was told the same.
One reader mentioned asking a Sears Twitter rep if they can buy the new Craftsman power tools at Sears, and the reply they received started with “we plan to!” Given everything I know and understand about current Craftsman brand arrangements, that is simply wrong.
At this time, Stanley Black & Decker has not announced any plans to distribute any of their new offerings through Sears.
As I understand it, Lowes will the primary retail partner, and we should see product shipping from Amazon at some point too – possibly in time for the holidays.
P.S. The image above turned out to be fairly accurate. The new Craftsman brand showed off all of those tools at their recent event, and then some.
Advertisement
Christopher Carmichael
My thoughts were maybe not at first, however Sears currently sells Dewalt and Porter Cable power tools. So if the new Craftsman branded power tools is set to replace Porter Cable it only makes sense that Sears will eventually sell them in store as well. In fact it might bring business back somewhat as people like me will not invest in dated C3 line but is in the market for new power tools.
Stuart
Even if SBD wanted to put new Craftsman tools in Sears stores, do they have the production capacity to launch new tools at Lowes AND Sears at the same time?
By the time Wave 1 is finalized, they’ll be ready to expand Craftsman V20 offerings. Honestly, where will Craftsman sell more tools?
Plus, what about current Sears Craftsman suppliers? Would Stanley Black & Decker replace *some* tools at Sears? Wouldn’t they want to replace more? Would Sears’ current contracts allow for any of that?
Would Sears spend any money to jointly promote the new offerings?
This is a complicated matter, and all we can really do is observe and speculate.
Corey
I’d be surprised if they even continued developing. More than likely Sears will burn their remaining stock and keep chugging on their way to bankruptc- er- “asset light” status. No way lampert gives a crap about Craftsman, someone probably just told him it’ll take 15 years to sell all the nextec and c3.
Mike_s9
My Sears store switched their Craftsman gardening tools to the Stanley brand. The change from red to yellow in that whole section was hard to miss.
John804
I don’t understand the reasoning behind a deal that lets Sears continue using the Craftsman name. Trademarks are supposed to indicate the source of goods or services to prevent confusion in the marketplace. I haven’t seen the actual agreement, but this deal seems designed to do the opposite.
Did I miss something? I have so many questions. Why did SBD buy a trademark but allow Sears to continue using the exact same trademark at the same time? Are there quality requirements that Sears will need to meet? Is Sears limited to just the Nextec and C3 lines so that the two brands are distinct? Is Sears required to use a different color scheme for its Craftsman tools? Is SBD just banking on Sears going out of business before any of this becomes a problem?
Consumers that don’t pay attention beyond seeing the name “Craftsman” could be very confused unless this is all handled well. That could help Sears but hurt SBD.
Stuart
There’s no way to ever know the *why*, as I’m sure these things were decided upon behind closed doors at the highest levels of both companies, and with throngs of corporate lawyers.
John804
Oh, of course. I’d never expect to get an answer to any of my questions – they were certainly speculative. The rest of us will just have to see how things shake out in reality.
Stuart
I know, I was trying to say that I share in your frustration at having more questions than answers.
David R
The “why” is pretty clear to me. Sears needed to generate some cash and sold or licensed the Craftsman brand to get some. They also need the Craftsman name to keep bringing people in the stores.
Gordon
I think of it like SBD shorting Sears. Currently, I’m with SBD that Sears will not have the capacity to independently make Craftsman branded products for 15 years. Hell, I’m not sure Sears will even be around in 15 years.
TonyT
or even 5 years IMHO
Kyle
I’m surprised they are still around today.
charles
for me they are already gone. both sears stores anywhere near me are already closed. I’m done with Sears. I’ve been DeWalt for years now after my first Craftsman cordless drill died because of cheap design. As my Craftsman screwdrivers and other hand tools die I’ll replace them with SBD products that are “made in usa” or maybe “made in taiwan” but if they say “made in china” I’ll get them elsewhere. hey sbd, are you listening? stop giving the chinese communist party more power over the world ok?
Jim Felt
The death of an American icon. Lowe’s for goodness sake? For that matter the remnants of the once “Where America Shops”…
All rest in peace as far as I’m concerned.
BTW. Is there even a middle market left in America?
Bart
Hasn’t been a “middle market” in the US for at least the past 20-25 years, at least with tools. You either get homeowner/HF grade stuff, or have to pony up a fair amount of money for pro grade. Which is why I seldom ever buy new tools any longer, cheap stuff is well, cheap, and I can’t justify the prices of the nice stuff for as often as I use it.
Zachary solomon
I’m just curious where does Sears Hometown & outlet fit I this? I ask this because Sears Holdings lost their contract to sell whirlpool products while Sears Hometown didnt because it’s a separate company.
Zachary solomon
I’m addressing if they would get Sears Craftsman or Craftsman. Also that what they should do. They should go back to having Sears Craftsman name on Sears tools while SBD has just craftsman on its tools. This would help with the confusion.
Flotsam
This deal is stranger and stranger as things develop. From the SBD perspective to still have Sears source tools that have Craftsman name “may” be substandard and will tarnish the Craftsman name. What was SBD thinking? Except maybe they saw the writing on the wall a long time ago …… Sears as an entity is not long for this world.
ON the flip side I thought when Sears negotiated the deal they would have access to any “new” products developed by SBD? Where is the value for Sears except for that chunk of cash they surely have squandered?
DanFromMass
While having 2 different companies making and selling “Craftsman” tools is confusing & counterproductive; this issue shouldn’t exist for too long.
Everyone knows that Sears is in a prolonged death spiral. They have sold off just about anything of value, just to keep the lights on. It won’t be much longer before they are completely shut down.
satch
Dan, as much as I never wanted to hear myself say it, I will be happy when they put fhe nails in the coffin lid. The absolute destruction of an American icon at the hands of corporate raiders is a sickening event to behold. All because of the ‘this isn’t how we do business’ mentality of those running it when itmcame to sreamlining and going head first into online marketing.
It is ironic that the company which invented shop from home marketing refused to grasp the model for the twenty-first century. I would be so bold as to say if they would have done half what Amazon has done in online marketing they would still be the biggest retailer in the world. They had it all. Name recognition, branding, and their own bank for credit card sales. How do you bollocks that up? I know it wasn’t just online sales that hurt them but man, that was a huge blunder. I just want it to end already.
Steve
I don’t know that there is anything in the contract that would specifically prevent Sears from sourcing Craftsman tools from SBD in the future, however, by then, there likely won’t be a Sears.
George
All I know is that my local sears is having less and less tools showing. By the end of the year it wouldn’t surprise me if they downsize the whole tool area.
JoeM
I’m surprised this is even a question. For Canadians it’s an obvious “No.” All this back and forth over contract use, freedom to develop, etc… pointless… Sears Canada no longer exists, therefore, no one can buy Craftsman Tools at a place that no longer exists.
Lowes may sell Craftsman stuff, but due to our Anti-Trust laws, SBD can’t remove its other brands from the shelves and replace them with Craftsman. They have to support existing brands, or face a whole fustercluck of Government red tape that will stop ALL products they offer from entering the country. Canada is very strict on this stuff. If SBD had visions of renaming their other brands “Craftsman” and cutting off support, they’ll have to deal with one of our Trade commissions demanding they still support the old brands, or get Craftsman blocked from entry into the country.
I haven’t mentioned WHICH Trade commission, because frankly Canada has so many acronyms for Federal and Provincial councils of every sort, that I honestly can’t remember this particular one’s acronym. The only one popping into my head is the wrong commission, the CRTC, or Canadian Radio and Television Commission. Which is the wrong one. I just can’t remember the RIGHT one.
Mattd
Yea but all it takes to “support” a brand you plan to kill is to provide batteries and charges. You dont need to keep making the tools. Or develope new tools.
JoeM
Regardless, if they own X number of brands, they make up a total number of brands in the total Canadian market offering. If our Trade Commission sees that they increase their percentage of the market by X+1 brands, the removal of any of their brands will mean they increase their market share, while shorting customers of the brand they removed. Essentially making their original X number of brands equal in market share to when they had X+1.
This is called a Forced Market Grab in our Market Laws, and is often the trigger of an Anti-Trust/Monopoly investigation. In which time EVERY trade, purchase, and license to do business in Canadian Territory is examined. This is VERY bad for stock prices, as the number of trades per day that they are able to do gets slowed down. Which usually scares buying of their stock, and massive drops in stock price.
We CANADIANS may be really nice at times, but man… our Government is more restrictive than the Nazi regime on a lot of things. All sorts of Canadian content requirements, Ethics investigations… We’re a good PEOPLE, but our Government is still effectively Empirical in structure. All those years under British Colonial rule, it’s like we never gained our independence, even though it was Granted to us by England upon request.
Adam
IF SBD did sell through Sears, then Sears would need to stop selling their 19.2 products. There would be way to much confusion for one. Second, they would essentially be advertising and selling another companies products, and getting much less of the profit, not that any Sears has many cordless tools displayed in-store anymore & could use any money possible. Though my thoughts on the company’s business decisions in the last 5+ years have them using a dart board.
Toolfreak
My guess is that when Sears/Kmart close a few hundred more stores in 2019, there will eventually reach a tipping point where the company collapses since the few hundred stores that will be left won’t be enough where keeping them open makes any money, let alone any sense.
Really, Sears/Kmart is at that point now with only a few hundred stores left already, taking losses every quarter (as it apparently has for many, many years now) but Eddie keeps dumping a few million in every so often to delay the end so the SEC stays off his back and doesn’t open any investigations into what he’s doing, even though it’s obvious to everyone.
Sears might not have any stores in or after 2020 or shortly thereafter, but the whole 15-year contract with SBD thing is so Eddie can keep the Sears name around for the next 15 years, getting paid by SBD, and having profited by selling all the real estate and other assets, including the DieHard and Kenmore names as well.
You might even be able to buy all the SBD Craftsman stuff online at Sears.com when Sears only exists as a website, but of course the SBD suppliers will be shipping all the orders and Sears will just take a cut. That seems to be what is being set up with the whole Shop Your Way program.
Personally, I’m ok with the whole thing collapsing, hopefully Sears/Kmart/ShopYourWay all go away and Eddie winds up losing all his money and going to jail for a long, long time.
Joseph
SBD pays sears a 3% royalty on cman sales for he first 15 years. Lampert Has that routed to the outstanding pensions. Eddie will be fine as he has spun Off the best properties into a REIT.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/01/seritage-a-sears-store-owner-gets-vote-of-confidence-from-buffett.html
The remaining Sears stores are a fraction of the size of the Sears we remember. Jammed with clothes, mattresses, lawnmowers, etc etc. Why would anybody Combine kmart with anything ? Like grafting on gangrenous flesh to something Healthy. Not that Sears in 2003 was healthy, but it did have to go the way it Did the last 15 years. Putting sears brands (cman, kenmore, diehard) in kmart Could only hurt the brands identity. Had eddie not seen the potential of the Internet by 2003 ? About the only thing left in the tool section (whic is pitiful)that is made is the USA is the hammers and that isn’t true for the whole line.
Bobby
Thanks for clarifying Stuart. Keep the articles coming, glad I found this blog.
Neighbor Joe
Oh Eddie Lambert, what might have been if only Sears invested in Craftsman relaunch as “made in USA” and relocated Craftsman tools from the basement of Sears mall stores to the first floor entrance years ago. Moving production to China drove down Craftsman sales from $2 billion a year to $1 billion. His unrelenting faith in Ayn Rands objectivism as a business strategy and Sears Holding aloof approach to managing their footprint quoting Rand “the producer who lives by his own effort and does not give or receive the undeserved…” has left Sears stores on their own with little or no investment and brands left on their own to succeed or sink or worse driven into the ground and sold off like Craftsman. No way SBD will be using Sears stores to sell a product they actually invested in collectively relaunching restoring and rebranding Craftsman as “made in USA.”
Nathan
I don’t know that sears still has the buying power to have something made for them anymore. They are enough of a credit risk to start with.
so it wouldn’t surprise me if they were to back into selling the SBD craftsman stuffs just because.
Robin
I don’t think that SHC lawsuit against TTI didn’t help it out very much anyway. I’m sure that TTI is waiting for its contracts to run out and then they can break ties with Sears.
I also remember reading an article somewhere that since it’s so hard for Sears to get product through it’s normal supply chain route, departments have purchased products through other distribution channels. An example of this is when regions couldn’t get Kenmore appliances through regular channels from Whirlpool due to the company’s own red tape. Some areas of the company started buying appliances directly from LG and branding them as Kenmore. I wish I remembered exactly what the article said, but the above is the gist of the article.
I wouldn’t be surprised if tool buyers start having a hard time getting Craftsman tools through regular distribution channels and may go outside of them to get Craftsman Tools like through SBD.
John
Fast Eddie Lampert continues to squeeze blood from the turnip, formerly know as Sears. Everything from the strategic sale of key brands (with a licensing annuity to boot) to the establishment of the REIT is about maximizing his profit and minimizing risk once the doors at Sears shut for good. He bought the retail formats in 2005 with other peoples money and has extracted almost every penny of value since then. The sale of Craftsman to SBD certainly limits/eliminates Sears ability to develop new Craftsman products for the Sears retail format. Sears has no leverage with supplies now that the brand has found a new home at Lowes, Ace and Amazon.
Diamond Dave
Craftsman is really hitting Facebook advertising as of late. I had to re-join the Craftsman Club as past membership is null and void. Craftsman Membership has been dismal the last few years and now is pretty much non existent but I am hopeful this new marketing will yield positive results for them. They have been good with answering questions on their Facebook Site.
Anyhow, it seems the majority of us share the opinion that we don’t give a damn about Sears but have a soft spot for USA made Craftsman. SBD realizes this and is promoting. USA made products in the future. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build the brand loyalty that Craftsman once possessed and I hope Sears will just die off and let SBD take Craftsman into the future quickly.
Mike_s9
They shut down the Craftsman Club website (discussion forums, project sharing, Sears deals, etc), because SBD said they were building a new club. Now that SBD’s version of the Craftsman Club is here, it just looks like a simple email subscription to me.
Brisbalk
What really saddens me is the fact hundreds, if not potentially thousands of AMERICANS are going to lose their jobs when Sears finally goes out of business. While I am not a fan of Eddie Lampert myself, I also hate to see Americans lose their careers/jobs. Yes sadly most retail locations will hire just about anyone, yet I rather Americans work rather than be dependent on the government.
While I’ll be the first to say Black and Decker Stanley is not without their flaws, to their credit, some of the items they create do have American made components. Not 100% USA made, yet compared to other brands, made in USA of global materials is better than 0%.
Don’t get this twisted, Black and Decker Stanley as a company are globalists. All the CEO, investors and board members care about is maximizing profits by any means at all. If shutting down every factory in USA would increase their profits, they’d do this in a second. Globalists do NOT care about ANYTHING but their own interests.
If anyone thinks I am a corporate apologist, don’t as I merely applaud any American manufacturing, assembly work domestically possible. Instead of blaming capitalism, be thankful there is a semblance of a free market. Not my problem to make sure other countries citizens are employed, that is up to THEIR respective governments. Visa versa, I don’t expect other countries to care (they don’t, never have and never will, not that they’ll openly admit this) about American employment either.
This all being said, I can understand the frustrations that some have. These big corporations have enough money to pay off anyone and everyone. Do not think for a minute they haven’t bribed, black mailed or have done closed door deals to their benefit to those in power. Yet being nihilistic and bleating that nothing will ever change, hence why even bother doesn’t solve anything. Think about it, for their to be change, action must be taken. Naturally, this must be lawful, as there are more than enough lawyers, attorney’s and other legal “experts” that one “wrong” move and your they can easily ruin your life permanently.
If Sears lasts another 5-10 years, that will amaze me. This much is for certain, Eddie, the investors of Sears and several big executives will away with millions in the bank and be financially set for life. Everyone else, will ultimately either be out of a job and possibly lose all the benefits of retirement for those that are close to that. There is no way to prevent this crash sadly, I just hope the remaining employees are taking steps to help themselves or retiring if they can.
Grady
I recently visited my local Sears store which is scheduled for closer. The signs posted on and in the store said everything was on sale up to 70% off, so I was curious. The front of the store was crowded with empty racks that were for sale. As I made my way to the tool area half of the store was empty, the other half was packed with over price clothes. The tool area was bare. A lot of individual sockets, screwdrivers, and broken packages. The broken packages were an additional 25% off, but everything else had a pink sales tag over the original price tag. I Went online to the Sears website and found that the pink sales price was the same as the listed on line price.
RIPOFF!!!
Blythe
The liquidation sales of almost any chain store are usually run by a 3rd party- they run the pricing and provide employees- hence they have an incentive to keep prices high for a while since people assume it’s a good deal without cross checking like you did
Erik
I can’t believe the president at Sears of “KCD” has some kind of delusion Sears still offers the biggest Craftsman tool selection and thinks people will still be going to Sears to look at empty shelves.
Also “listed industry awards Craftsman won”. When 20years ago?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-stanley-craftsman-tools-rollout-0820-story.html
Mike
I don’t see much of a problem here. Sears will likely be gone within 5 years, so that won’t be an issue for SBD.
I’m hoping Craftsman power tools basically replace Porter-Cable, who should then go back to making pro-grade woodworking tools.
However, I really want to see USA-made Craftsman wrenches and sockets again, especially the Professional line, which were quite nice.
David Ligensquiche
For several decades, I worked, supported and even promoted Sears brands even when I wasn’t working. Had a very long career there, 40+ years to be precise. Hard to imagine that Sears was once an exceptional company to work for. No company is perfect and there were issues long before Eddie Lampert took over Sears. That said, his decisions and how I dodged being laid off before made me decide to take an early retirement.
Anyone here remember when Grainger sold the Made in America Craftsman Profesional sockets, ratchets and wrenches? For a while I genuinely thought with such a lucrative supplier such as Grainger, there was a chance Sears was going to pull out of mess the company was in for a long time. To this day, no one that I was able to speak to was able to figure how how Sears executives messed that deal up.
My guess is that Danaher was the writing on the wall and pretty much told Grainger they wanted an out before they lost their figurative shirts. There is a good chance someone at Danaher predicted what would eventually happen to Western Forge/Ideal. Not surprised what Sears did to that Loggerhead creator either, thankfully he was able to win that settlement.
Similar to others, I desperately want to see to see USA made Craftsman branded tools again. Doesn’t matter if this is Wilde, Ideal, Mayhew, Lisle or whomever, we need more domestically made products. These are the products that sold the best and resulting in better sales for everyone. I’d know, these paid for my kid’s college expenses and even enabled me to buy my first house during the best sales period.
Like it or not and I am more of the later, imported items are here to stay, especially made in China products. There will always be a demand for “cheap” and typically you get what you pay for. To me, I consider these landfill items and I’ve “fixed” several of these items during my time. Often not worth the money or labor, yet you do what you must to pay the bills.
As others have noted, Eddie Lampert is certainly not a efficient or great CEO. His decisions from the top have done a significant amount of “damage” to employee morale and in productivity. To some extent, you were to see Sears as your family first and foremost. So tending to your actual family with birthdays, weddings, little league practices etc. was also to be seen as secondary. Your job was pivotal to the success of the company and they expected full allegiance.
With this mantra, no wonder why distributors left Sears in droves. Similar to my actual family, they haven’t spoken to me in more than a decade now. Goes to show, even if you show true loyalty, this matters matters little to corporations or even some individuals.
Hopefully and I sincerely mean this, Black and Decker Stanley succeeds with the Craftsman line by re-establishing some USA made products.
jayne
im hoping Stanley black and decker comes up with some kind of adapter so you can use c3 tools with the new 20v battery aka dewalt 18 volt to 20 volt. if they do im in however if not i’m still in. I believe assembled usa is the way for me.
Jack
Craftsman hand tools have a lifetime warranty but every time I try to replace one at my sears, they never have any of the replacements available.