We have received multiple reports that the Ryobi Link storage system, which launched just a few months ago, is now on clearance at Home Depot stores.
The Ryobi Link system, which is exclusive to Home Depot, includes modular tool boxes and wall storage components.
Update: We received word from Ryobi that the initial launch displays were temporary, and that Link is leaving those stores and only transitioning to more permanent placements at select Home Depot stores.
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A reader (thank you, Dusty!) tipped us off about this several days ago. Their Home Depot store has Ryobi tool boxes, wall panels, and wall storage accessories all on clearance.
Other Home Depot store locations have also been putting their Ryobi Link products on clearance. Thank you to Benjamen (@electronsmith) for the photo!
This is highly surprising. Not only is the Ryobi Link storage system relatively new to the market, we’re approaching a huge tool-related shopping season, with Memorial Day and Father’s Day just weeks ahead.
Spring is also a big season for tool storage and organizational products, as DIYers and homeowners dust off their workbenches and garden tools.
You can still find Ryobi Link products at Home Depot’s website.
What Does this Mean for the Ryobi Link System?
Update from Ryobi
Ryobi informed us that the Link system has been experiencing “tremendous momentum” at Home Depot, and implied that what shoppers have been seeing is the result of Link shifting from launch availability at all stores to permanent displays at select stores’ storage sections.
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The response from end users has been phenomenal. RYOBI and The Home Depot are committed to the program and excited about the future.
The wall storage system launched in all stores as part of a promotional endcap in Q1, and is now transitioning to a permanent placement in select stores. In stores without a permanent destination, you may see some product on clearance to move the remaining inventory.
We are committed to the program, and look forward to sharing announcements soon about new innovation and continued expansion with the RYOBI Link System.
Second Update from Ryobi
Ryobi added that:
We have confirmation that permanent placement for RYOBI LINK in over 2,000 Home Depot stores coming later this year.
Original Discussion
The “organize, access, transport” aspects shaped the Link lineup into a broad ecosystem of products meant to address any and every storage or organizational need a DIYer might come across.
I’m not usually a fan of all-in-one systems, but Ryobi Link seemed interesting and well-thought-out.
I haven’t actually tried Ryobi Link products yet, and with this development, I probably never will. Ryobi said they planned to send us test samples, but nothing ever showed up, and I never followed up.
When I wrote about the new modular tool boxes, I said:
I expect to see the Ryobi LINK system soften in price a bit 6 months from now when Home Depot rolls out their Father’s Day promos.
I expected to see Ryobi Link sales and promotions for Father’s Day, not clearance stickers.
What happens now?
Maybe the clearances are coincidental, or is this happening nationwide?
How well will the system continue to sell if it’s not available at Home Depot stores? Will Ryobi continue with further development if the Link products and accessories are only sold on Home Depot’s website?
The Link system launched with many different products and accessories, but it’s far from complete. For instance, will the modular tool box line be expanded with an briefcase-style organizer?
Clearances like this, ahead of major holiday shopping seasons, usually happen as part of a reset.
Maybe other Ryobi Link products will take their place? But what? These are core system components.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to be optimistic. I thought the system had potential – and it might still have potential, but this is not a good sign at all.
Are the Ryobi Link storage products on clearance at your Home Depot stores too?
Koko The Talking Ape
Colson: You’re going to lose. It’s in your nature….
You lack conviction.
Joshua Morris
No surprise given it was 20-30% overpriced for ryobi
Rafe
Also I doubt most people putting that much effort into their tool setups are going to choose Ryobi, especially if it’s just a bit too expensive.
Bryan
It was interesting but overpriced IMO.
Chris S
I rarely saw these not crammed in a tight space somewhere. I wonder if they going to shift sales online-only to lesson competition with their black and red merchandise and free up floor space at the same time.
Steve
They were an afterthought of an afterthought in my HD. Crammed away in a small corner in a single half bay.
I have a fair amount of Ryobi tools as just a DIYer, but I just can’t see why any DIYer would spend so much money for something like this. Buy the individual wall hooks they sell from Everbilt for 30% of the cost, use your tool to mount them, done.
Patrick T
Hmmm. My store has a big display on an end cap at the front of the store. Maybe it’s regional or, just a slow roll. If they are going away, at least they lasted longer than CNN+
Stuart
I just heard from Ryobi and updated the post.
The launch rollout was nationwide, and now select stores are proceeding with permanent displays.
tony
THE GREEN COLOR IS JUST OFF PUTTING FOR MOST
James C
Hard to see in the pic, but the medium tool box and the large hanger thing in the middle are the exact same prices as the regular prices online, i.e. this are not clearance prices (I didn’t check anything else). I suspect someone in this store was confused.
Benjamen
You are right, several of the “clearance” items are the exact same price as they were before and the others are basically rounded down to the nearest dollar.
I see things go into clearance all the time at the same price it was listed before, sometimes even at a higher price. HD (and frankly most other stores) like to play games with price and clearance tags to get you to purchase things you normally wouldn’t.
Jim Felt
In my closest HD their “Clearance” area frequently has discounts ranging from exactly “0” to 10-15%. Big yawn.
fred
Just shows us how English is a marvelous language. Ask a question about what’s on-sale and might get a totally honest answer: “everything in the store is on-sale” Excluding the building itself, its shelves, fixtures and employees – that statement would be almost axiomatic. With a clearance sale – the only claim in the verbiage is that they are clearing it out – maybe at a good price or maybe not
Vards Uzvards
At the local store these yellow stickers show price reduction of $0.98 at most. Not really a “clearance” pricing.
John
…”that following a phenomenal end user response”… NONSENSE!
Marketing departments are lame.
As another comment said, the green color on the lids is off-putting. I have quite a few random Ryobi tools but no way in hell I want to spend money on lime green lidded tool boxes. They should use grey and black and only pin stripe here and there with the lime green. Minimize the garishness.
PW
I agree 100%. Ryobi tools are great. Their lime green is off-putting. I miss their old blue and yellow, it was so much better. I don’t understand why they switched from a reasonable color scheme to something that resembles mid-90s children’s toys.
Bonnie
Identity most likely. The blue-and-yellow scheme didn’t really stand out (kinda like their tools). The green is garish, but also clearly visible and instantly recognizable.
Smokey McPott
they switched up to stand themselves out from bosch n makita ,, and the HD decided “hey we got our ‘pro’ line Ridgid in a safety cone orange colorway,,,, let’s do our diy-er range inna hideous reflective safety vest neon green and keep tha theme a-rollin!!!!! everyone sees those bright colors all over the job sites,, maybe if our tools were the same, the dads who just couldn’t hack it out on the work sites would think they were cool and grab a set!!!”
lol at least thas what I had always thought when I’d see Ridgid n Ryobi haa.. but I’m not gonna lie, a few of their latest hp tools are actually pretty decent for their target audience,, those just starting out or the weekend warriors n so on..
Brad
I make $90/hr why would I want to be a stick builder on a job site? Thanks for the laugh at least.
Stuart
What else are they supposed to say?
MM
The introductory endcap promotion for Ryobi Link has concluded.
Not all Home Depot stores will carry Ryobi Link in the future; those locations which are discontinuing Ryobi Link may put their inventory on Clearance.
Stuart
I’ve had brands tell me a product was successful and only “temporarily out of stock” only for it to never be sold again.
Is Link selling well, or very poorly? Was this clearance always the plan, or based on sales performance (or lack thereof)?
The only part we can trust is that Ryobi says they’re committed to the Link system.
In my opinion, this clearance is not a great sign, but it could just be a pothole on Link’s product roadmap.
I went to a larger Home Depot today, and they didn’t have Link anywhere – not any endcap, and not in the storage aisle.
We’ll have to see what happens.
TomD
The “select stores” is the give-away; it wasn’t successful enough to compete with Milwaukee and friends, so it will be in the larger stores for awhile, and then quietly never be updated and disappear I suspect.
I agree with others that the lime green is a bit much; they should have pinstriped things but had it mainly black.
Ct
I’m happy with. Craftsman system it was looking like it was gonna disappear but it’s stronger now than ever
Alan King
After doing construction for 30 years I would literally prefer eating broken glass than to spend a single dime on anything Ryobi… The tools are garbage and a complete job site embarrassment…. DeWalt & Milwaukee all the way !!
Bob Jones
And Ryobi is 100% not intending for its product to be used by professionals. If any contractor ever showed up at my house with Ryobi tools I send them on their way. For personal use, however, there’s no better value out there.
Paul
Different strokes I suppose. I love the color. Brightens up the place next to the ply and red and black.
Maps Bam
I like Ryobi, but when you make storage products that are unnecessarily large, gaudy and overpriced you are bound to fail. Given that fact that Ryobi is somewhat of a budget brand, the high price just helped ensure failure.
Perry
I read the space between the lines of that update as “we overanticipated the rollout, and we’re scaling back to supply the select markets where customers are actually buying them”.
I’m underwhelmed with the ryobi link rollout. Had they just imported what is available in Australia they would have done better, imo.
Randy
Is this compatible with any other modular storage systems?
Stuart
No.
Harrison
I feel like there just isn’t space in the market for every brand to have its own proprietary modular storage system.
Branded storage is more than just utility- you’re making a decision to decorate your surroundings with a corporate logo, broadcasting your devotion overtly to your friends, family and coworkers. You really need to love the brand to *pay money* to promote their trademark. Ryobi may be popular and well liked, but they are just a budget store brand after all. Not exactly aspirational, or commanding of the sort of tribalism that makes Packout an easy sell.
We’re still in the post-Packout era, where every brand looks at Milwaukee’s success and wants to get in on the action. But it’s a fad. Milwaukee has the fanaticism and popularity to join the ranks of Tough System, Tanos T-loc, etc and become ubiquitous. The rest? Look forward to Kobalt, Ryobi and Craftsmen plastic storage in garage sales of the future.
TomD
Some of the Craftsman stuff is compatible with some variation of ToughSystem or something (I can’t keep all the SBD ones straight). I feel the “store brands” and “value brands” should have gotten together and agreed on some form of a interchangeable standard if they really wanted to take on Packout and ToughSystem.
But since many of those store brands are themselves owned by the companies that own the “big brands” it’s unlikely to happen. But it’d be nice if a Masterforce toolbox could latch on top of a Husky rolling box.
MT
“… the “store brands” and “value brands” should have gotten together and agreed on some form of a interchangeable standard…”
Exactly right. I’m not willing to gamble on a proprietary system that isn’t likely to be around long.
Bob
“The rollout was phenomenal”
Phenomenally bad I guess, cus all this crap went on clearance. Good luck finding any more of it if you bought some. “Select stores”. Sounds like not a store near me lol.
You would’ve figured the stuff would’ve at least lasted till Father’s Day. At least then they could’ve put it on “sale” instead of “clearance”.
Frank D
Tremendous momentum …
Versus …
It is caked in dust, moved out of view and has markdowns …
And
Just too late to market, poor alternative design and too expensive for what it is.
MFC
Yep, clearanced at my HD too. I’ve only seen one ryobi link box out in actual use. Looked like a giant lego.
IronWood
Oh well. Better alternatives being sold in established systems. And less of that neon green in the world is a good thing.
doug hinkle
i bought 2 tracks and the tool shelf. it seems like its on par with the tools. the tool shelf was cheaper than building one myself.
Franck B.
The Kobalt ones have also been out about a month, but with the price being 25% higher than when it was leaked, without any supporting accessories, and not being in the stores… I expect that they’ll be on clearance once they’re actually in the store.
They also have bizarre pricing where because the individual boxes are closer to the original price when leaked, the tower costs more than buying the three parts separately.
Aaron SD
Just came back from one of my local Home Depot in San Diego. No sales just regular product on an end cap. Sign said some things online only. The shelf looked pretty full and most boxes had visible dust…
Rog
I noticed a bunch of Link stuff on clearance at my local HD as well. Thought it was kind of odd and definitely doesn’t inspire someone to buy into the system.
Rog
Also, when are we gonna get info on the upcoming Father’s Day sales? This dad is anxiously awaiting his excuse to buy more tools…
Stuart
I haven’t seen anything notable from Home Depot or Lowe’s yet.
I visited a Home Depot yesterday, and they still seem to be in spring DIY mode.
MT
Got to get past Memorial Day first.
Ian
Suspect their new partner for selling these boxes will be Legoland. The boxes really look like Lego with the circles on top
Munklepunk
Just looked them up. They are bordering Milwaukee prices. I wonder why Ryobi feels the need to compete with high end brands, they had the market almost cornered in budget priced tools. If they were low priced I might buy a few.
Stuart
It could be that they designed around features, quality, and performance, rather than price.
Bart
It doesn’t really seem to be a “system” in that things hanging on the wall and totes are completely separate. It’s just a bunch of hangers and totes and you probably pay a premium for them all to say the same name. Seems pointless to me.
Franck B.
You can tell they’re all part of the system because they spent too much time designing whiz-bang parts and none at all on normal usability. Like when you hang the box on the wall, the handle is on the BOTTOM. Or that you can’t fill the small box with the organizer bins that are supplied, because the lid interferes with the bin in the middle.
Mike
I wouldn’t waste my time or money on any ryobi products first Gen ryobi were really bad 20 years later ,ryobi is still bottom shelf item . But if you only need a tool for about an hr or 2 screws “very small screws then this is the brand for you.
Lurker
Overpriced for Ryobi line. Home Despot has ruined it for me on Ryobi because of the way warranty issues are now handled. They make it exceedingly difficult, in the first place, just to get any warranty repairs initiated. Then you hand your broken/malfunctioning tool over to Home Despot’s “Equipment Rental” department for them to “diagnose” and, SUPPOSEDLY, “repair” said tool. After MONTHS of waiting, I got my last , supposed, “repair” back. It was my Ryobi 18 volt brushless line trimmer, which had suddenly stopped working, seemingly an electrical issue. When it was returned to me, I took it home, and it came on when the switch was depressed, but the trimmer head didn’t want to spin, even though the motor was turning. I disassembled the shaft, to discover that the Home Despot “repair technician” had reassembled the shaft wrong by placing the flexible internal shaft in reverse. It worked as it should as soon as I reassembled it, PROPERLY! BUT, it now only runs for short periods before shutting off. I can wait several seconds, and it will run again for a bit before repeating the same issue. Problem is that now my extended warranty has now expired, where they would have had to replace it. I’m beginning to despise Home Despot, AND Ryobi as well as other brands under the “One World” corporation umbrella. It’s no longer about good product or good customer service, but separating you from as much of your money, as rapidly as possible.
Same for Lowe’s, just at a higher price point, and crappier lumber.
Smokey McPott
while I wish ryobi had the same warranty as Ridgid (would be suuuch an incentive n bring in alot more customers to the brand),, I just view their tools like, “they’re decent quality and usually pretty good price wise, so I just use n abuse it for as long as it runs,,, if it dies, it dies” …I’d rather just buy another vs dealing w the warranty nightmare you just described ya know ? lol but I understand there are those instances where sumn malfunctions after a half days’ use, and that’s where you’d want the warranty, but if sumn like that happens I wouldn’t even bother w warranty and just straight up return it.
Smokey McPott
if I was going to be optimistic, I’d say that this clearance is just them clearing out the first gen wave of these products in order to make room for the 2nd gen where they have taken consumer response and such into consideration and would then be updating the current line to better fit the users wants n needs,, cuz while I agree w some the neon green is a bit much, this system seemed to show a whole lot of promise and wide versatility… if they come back in a few months and drop round 2 and fine tuned the whole system, I’d fully be down for that,,
I mean lately you can’t deny the uptake in quality ryobi has been producing w the obvious influence from Milwaukee (TTI n all that..),, so I can def see them taking a page or 20 outta the packout’s book to implement within their system,,, I had always thought they looked quite similar in the aspect of the lid’s and their sectioning,,, ryobis is a bit more rounded vs Milwaukee, but they both got that six pack style goin,, I don’t see why they can’t just copy the packout n just shave down those squared off corners in the linking designs lol …
Either way, if ryobi is to keep producing the link system,, they absolutely NEED to minimalize their usage of the alien barf green coloring… someone up here said they should stick w a grey and black color scheme w accents of the neon green,,, and I fully support that idea, that would be a box system I would actually use and be seen using lol
Rx9
Did Lego sue for copyright infringement?
Thom
I have a few Ryobi items but using them makes my eyes bleed! They need to tone down that green!
Adrian
If they stop selling it they should be forced to publish their cad models free of charge so they can be used by customers who invested in them.
Same with everything, cad models should be provided so replacements can be manufactured by the end user.
Alex Kish
I waited too lomg. All the Home Depots local to me have a dwindling supply and the price has INCREASED from $150 to $200 for their flagship roll cart set. However, the Milwaukee brand is being given more prominence. Too bad, everything about their system is simple and highly flexible. Plus the Green makes it easy to keep track of on jobsites.