A reader wrote in yesterday (thanks, Devin!), with a link to a story about Sears’ Eddie Lampert’s rant against One World Technologies, a TTI-owned company through which many Craftsman cordless power tools are designed and manufactured.
Here’s his blog post. I’ve read in the past about Sears’ suppliers being nervous about the retailer’s ability to pay for merchandise. This past holiday season, I couldn’t help but notice a lack of brand variety among Sears’ seasonal displays, compared to past years’ selections and compared to Home Depot and Lowes’ offerings, and thought this was a direct result of supplier hesitations.
Advertisement
Sears has had public disagreements with suppliers in the past. A conflict with Loggerhead Tools comes to mind, where Sears developed a similar tool to Loggerhead Tools’ Bionic Wrench after deciding to stop ordering large quantities for seasonal displays.
In his blog post, Sears’ CEO complains that One World is seeking to renegotiate their contract with Sears:
One World… has threatened to refuse to perform under their Supply Agreement unless we agree to what we believe are unreasonable demands.
One World has informed us of their intention to take the very aggressive step of filing a lawsuit against us as they seek to embarrass us in the media to force us to let them out of their contract.
He complains that One World and several other suppliers want to make better deals for themselves that are unilaterally in their interests.
Um… hasn’t Sears done exactly that to Loggerhead Tools and other suppliers?
Advertisement
What about all those Craftsman Professional tools that were made in the USA? Or the USA-made pliers?
Did Sears and Craftsman not act unilaterally when they did things like that? Apex Tool Group still supplies a lot of tools to Sears and other brands outside their own, but have closed down USA manufacturing facilities and eliminated 2 long-time brands.
Would that Armstrong facility have closed down if Sears had been keeping their Craftsman Pro tool lines alive, instead of switching to imported versions?
Sears sold the Craftsman tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker, but can still develop and market their own Craftsman tools. Stanley Black & Decker has already announced some of their plans for their new brand, including an emphasis on USA tool product where possible.
What new is coming out of Sears’ Craftsman brand? Their Nextec lineup is still kicking, but there have been no new tools in years and the current lineup has been greatly reduced to a handful of SKUs.
I haven’t seen anything new from the TTI-made Craftsman power tools either.
A few years ago I was told that they were working on several benchtop tool improvements, but nothing ever came from that.
Lampert says that TTI wants to free up their manufacturing resources, to make tools for other brands without having to expand their capacity.
Financial media has talked about suppliers being hesitant about Sears’ ability to pay for new inventory. I think that’s a valid concern.
Should Lampert have openly criticized One World/TTI? Probably not. Later in the day, it was reported that Sears filed a lawsuit against One World.
Sears’ deal with TTI must be huge if a breach of contract lawsuit is a better path for them than mid-contract negotiations.
I’ve tried not to talk about Sears too much recently, because it just upsets me to think about what has happened to them. Their website is unfriendly and at times unusable. Seriously – I wanted to see the final price of something in recent months, and it didn’t let me go to checkout.
Sears’ stores aren’t barren, but they’re just not enjoyable for me to visit anymore. There’s almost nothing I want to buy. It used to be that I would never leave empty-handed.
I get ridiculous emails about “SURPRISE POINTS!!” that are set to expire. Oh, no, my $5 in surprise points off a $25 order are going to “disappear?” Hey Sears, just call it a coupon. The emails are at times quite obnoxious, starting with sensationalist subject lines that annoy me.
In defending the company, Sears’ CEO always points to their Shop Your Way members program. From a March blog post:
We saw the disruption of retail coming more than a decade ago and built a differentiated online shopping and membership platform – Shop Your Way – to ensure our participation in the next wave of retail.
They can tout “Shop Your Way” all day long, the bottom line comes down to this – Sears has become an undesirable place for me to buy tools from, and I’m not alone in this.
Five and a half years ago, a reader asked me about the future of Craftsman’s C3 lineup. I started by saying Craftsman C3 is here to stay. My stance has since changed.
Craftsman’s C3 lineup has a very uncertain future, due to Sears’ uncertain future, and also because we don’t yet know what Stanley Black & Decker has in store for the brand as far as power tools are concerned.
From what I’m told, DIYers tend to buy cordless power tools for the long haul.
Who knows what Craftsman’s C3 lineup will look like 5 years from today. 3 years from today. One year from now.
And with this new fight between TTI and Sears, things are even more uncertain. One World isn’t Craftsman’s only power tool partner, but they do make quite a few SKUs that it would be difficult to find another supplier for on a moment’s notice.
It might be an ugly fight between One World and Sears. Things aren’t very clear, without knowing what the supply contract says, or why One World wanted to be let out of it. Maybe Sears’ sale of the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker has something to do with it.
TTI is the parent company of Milwaukee Tool and their several sub-brands, and they also make power tools and certain accessories for Ridgid and Ryobi brands. They’re not a small company with little resources.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Tom
But wait, there’s more……
Sears loses to Loggerhead Tools:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170516/NEWS07/170519901/sears-ripped-off-local-tool-maker-jury-rules
Stuart
I saw. I wrote it up separately instead of meshing it in here.
https://toolguyd.com/sears-loses-patent-infrigement-case-with-loggerhead-tools-over-craftsman-bionic-wrench-rip-off/
JR
As much as I hate see an old and (formerly) trusted name go out of business, I say it is time to call this one dead. The very few times I have visited a Sears down here it has been depressing. Little stock, tired displays, even more tired employees, just so very sad.
Public spats with major suppliers is not going to end well for Sears.
Stuart
What bothers me is that Sears spends so much time and effort on their Shop Your Way nonsense, that they seem to have neglected everything that has been damaged.
The stores are in bad shape, the website is in bad shape, and they’re driving customers away.
Adam
Eddie wanted to just collect peoples buying information/habits, and sell that to other companies. I think he failed to realize, he needs to sell stuff in order to capture that information.
When a company’s website lists more outside products than it sells itself, I think there is a problem. There must be so much ineffeciency at Sears, that they make more money off re-directing you to buy from a competitor like BestBuy.
Their most recent brain-dead idea was the ‘Fount’ app. The last couple offers were: buy $30 (at a competitor no-less as Sears/Kmart were excluded), get $16 in points. How on earth is that a viable business model. I buy something from somewhere else for say $30, and at most they kick Sears 10% (doubtful) so $3. Then they are giving me $16. If I bought $30 of on-sale items (or normally priced in the real world), that seems like a loss of $13 to me, before any labor is involved.
On top of that, one of the retailers for those Fount promos is a gift card site (raise.com). So you could buy a $30 BestBuy gift card on 1 promo, get $15/16 in points. Then on the next offer, you could use that gift card for your purchase at BestBuy, and get another $16 back. Did anyone take a business class that works for Sears?
Stuart
Speaking of anyone at Sears taking a business class… one year I spoke to someone at Sears about what I thought of their in-store tool departments.
I gave some ideas, but the person was completely fixated on in-store 3D printing workshops and displays. If I remember correctly, I think it turned out he was an MBA intern at Sears and not a product or category manager, and I was extremely annoyed that he wasted so much of my time.
Ann
Wow, I think that’s the first I’ve heard of Sears having any interest in 3D printing. Another abandoned concept that they wasted a bunch of resources planning without ever implementing, I guess. Could’ve been a cool use for some of those empty alcoves that used to be for portrait studios, eyeglasses, and hearing aids.
Rock Hound
Shopyourway has never once gotten my bonus points correct. I always have to call them up to fix them and several times they refused to honor their promotions. After they shortchanged me $30 in points in December, I have not once since then bought or even considered buying items from Sears.
Toolfreak
Eddie thinks he will have an Amazon.com competitor in Shop Your Way when he’s done with Sears/Kmart and sold off all their brands and real estate, which is why there is a disproportionate amount of time, money and effort into it.
It’s already a “marketplace” where you can buy stuff from other retailers, he thinks he can make it a one-stop portal where you do all your online shopping rather than going to each retailer’s website.
It’s not a bad idea overall, but the implementation has been terrible. That and the “rewards” are insulting. They’ve gone down to offering 5 and 10 cent “rewards” as prizes for contests or using their app.
I confess I still like it for the occasional free tools with enough points.
Brian
Sears burning bridges while the ship is sinking. I don’t blame companies that want to flee…I was in Sears this weekend, they don’t even have an electronics section anymore.
Matt
I’m not sure if Canada is different from the states in this regard but sears has always been terrible. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten anything from Sears. I did get a couch from sears home, which is like a totally different experience but it’s just appliances and furniture. No tools. No electronics I believe. They killed their electronics in their main store 2 years ago for a Matress department. Seriously. Mattresses. They have an entire store that’s as big as their main store for that, but they ripped out electronics for more mattresses. Their warranty is great on appliances. Maybe it’s good on beds? Can’t say I need one and I’d probably try a Casper or other online one before going to a big box store again.
Anyway, I think that all these changes, for the sake of change, rather eloquently shows the disconnect they have. I don’t think Sears is a spot many think of for mattresses, but maybe I’m wrong. Electronics weren’t really better, but there had to be a better choice. Their tool selection looks like a 2 day garage sale Sunday about 2pm. It’s terrible.
John
If this is going to litigation now, Sears won’t have much product to sell during the holiday season. The window of time needed for the factories to order materials, build product, ship the goods to Sears distribution centers and ultimately to the stores in time for holiday shopping season is closing fast. Negotiations must have been going on for some time and I gather that they are at some sort of major impasse if lawsuits are being filled. This won’t be pretty and could prove fatal for one of the parties involved. Very sad, but not a surprise really.
Stuart
That’s what I was thinking.
Last holiday season, Apex Tool Group, Stanley Black & Decker, and TTI seemed to have been the most visible suppliers on the “promos and special buys” sales floor. Maybe there were some Chervon-made tools there too.
If there is a noticeable absence of TTI-made Craftsman power tools on display at Sears for the 2017 winter holiday shopping season, will it be because that’s something TTI threatened Sears with, or retaliatory for Sears’ lawsuit?
I was thinking that TTI was perhaps worried Sears couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for winter holiday 2017 shipments, but I don’t have enough insight into retail arrangements to support that possibility.
Sears keeps talking about a “transformation,” and are hyping up their Shop Your Way program, but I can never tell what they’re really talking about. It makes me feel like Eddie Lampert is a snake oil salesman.
Mike H
I agree, it’s sad to see Sears and Craftsman in the shape they are now.
But poor marketing and support is the cause of it.
I stopped shopping at Sears for the most part about a year ago and they have closed the store closest to me anyway about 2 months ago.
I have switched over to Ridgid Brand tools from Home Depot and find
them much better built and supported. I have Ridgid tools that them and the newer batteires last.. Unlike the older Sears C3 batteries before they came out with the $100 Lithium batteires. I have two of those and they seem to be lasting. But the Nicads you are often lucky to get a year of out of them if that. Same with their first gen of Lithium batteries.
Jason
Ridgid was a little shaky a few years ago with new product, but they have really expanded the brand lately with interesting tools like the heater and cordless compressor.
pete
They have a drill + impact combo that comes in their ridgid tool case now for $180 i think i saw it for today. thats a REALLY good deal and if i was looking for a new drill i would scoop that up.
ktash
Time to visit Sears and see if they still have any of the things I used to buy from them, though there are not many of these things left. It’s just so depressing to go there I never feel like stopping when I am driving by there.
DaveP
I haven’t been in Sears in more than 10 years. My last visit ended up in an argument with the manager of the hardware department at my local Sears who didn’t want to replace a fairly new Craftsman “Lifetime Warranty” socket that stripped out. (How can I strip a socket without stripping the bolt?) I left with the realization that the tool brand trusted by my grandfather and my father was now junk. They lost a customer for life that day.
I am very fortunate where I live as I have access to Home Depot, Menard’s, ACE Hardware, True Value, Norther Tool, and some specialty stores like Fastenal. Of course, there is always Amazon too.
I have no reason to step into a Sears ever again. RIP.
stephen agrista
our sears stores in the nj.and phily.area are terrific.well.stocked and clean. the restaurants in our area should have restrooms hslf as clean as sears im.a 45 year wall street pro.and an ivy leaguer.too.and while i clearly understand shld issues and would like.to .ring.his neck lampert has a valid point.there are positives regarding sears stores.the.press should show photos and write about those dtores too.
Patrick H
I find any of this hard to believe based on what I have seen. Excuse my state education.
Irv Cohn
Last time I was in a Sears was 8-10 years ago to get a replacement torque wrench for a friend of mine who had tried and was denied. I’m a real pack rat, so I went to my file cabinet where I keep my old craftsman tool catalogs, ( anyone remember those?), found the one with that particular torque wrench in it and also the lifetime warranty on ALL of their ‘hand tools’, took a friend and a video camera and away we went. They tried to deny me also, until I asked them to show me in the catalog where their hand tool torque wrenches were not covered by their lifetime warranty. Of course they couldn’t do it. Still denied, since it wasn’t a hand tool. Really where do the batteries fit in or where’s the power cord. Next came my request to see their business license, coupled with, I’ll see you in small claims court and we’ll see how a judge decides this, along with the results being posted on every place on the internet that I can think of. I’m also VERY NOT shy about getting rather loud, to the point that the entire store can hear me. It all worked, as I walked out with a brand new torque wrench. My friend was truly amazed, and he asked how I did it. I said you just have to know which buttons to press, how to press them, and when. I’ve got a duzzy of a story regarding a similar situation with H.F.T. but it’s probably not appropriate here. Sears is dying like the dinosaur that they are. They REFUSED to evolve into the new marketplaces, and methods of reaching out and selling to customers, and also being competitive with their competitors. Almost all of my tools, and 90% of non tools now comes from H.F.T and the internet. I very seldom find myself in any brick and mortar store. Clothes, electronics, car parts, etc. ALL off the internet. The old brick and mortar stores, will all die a slow painful death if they don’t change their ways. Places like Walmarts, Costco’s, Sams clubs etc. will survive. The internet will continue to take huge bites out of all of them. I’m rambling now, so I quit. Yes I know, some of you are saying thank God. Happy New Year to all. Irv.
Tom
I wonder what this means for the Nextec line. I bet they haven’t done a production run on those in years. There are always just a handful of dusty boxes in my local store.
I wonder if C3 gets suspended whether they will try to revive Nextec. There’s only about five or six tools left on their website.
Stuart
Nextec was made by Chervon, and they also make some C3 tools.
I don’t see Nextec being revived. You don’t see many consumer brands bothering with 12V Max tools anymore.
Adam
That could be said about pro brands too. Dewalt. lol
Speaking of Dewalt /SBD, I wonder if you will see more Dewalt in Sears if they have problems with TTI, especially now they have their hand-tool arrangement. It would make more sense to have one complete line, rather than a hodge podge of tool brands, then again common sense went out of stock at Sears years ago
Tom
I only mentioned it because if C3 gets put on hold, what are they going to sell this holiday season in the stores? (If they are still a going concern at that point).
I love my Nextec stuff. I have definitely found the limits to some of the tools, but it is just nice having a smaller, lighter form factor sometimes. I will probably graduate to something nicer in a couple of years, but I might still buy a 12v set for small jobs.
Stuart
That’s the thing – there’s nothing equivalent. There’s the Bolt-On system made for Craftsman by Black & Decker, but it’ll be hard for Sears to lean on an other power tool brands to make up for any shortage with TTI.
Cubbie
Why is it that consumer brands aren’t investing in 12v lines? Is it that they can’t get the expected power because of lower quality motors and batteries? Using them professionally, I’ve only considered pro brands, and have been very impressed with the power and variety of Milwaukee’s 12v line (started with DeWalt’s, but as they gave up on it, so did I). Seems a DIYer could get by just fine with a Milwaukee (or another pro) 12v line. I find I use mine more than my 18v tools on most jobs.
Stuart
I think that the price point of 12V-class tools are a really hard sell. Pro-grade 12V-class tools are comparably priced or pricier than DIYer-grade 18V-class tools. DIYers and homeowners shopping on price will usually gravitate more towards 18V-class tools. Plus, there’s the perception that 18V > 12V no matter what.
Toolfreak
Chervon also makes the 12V Nextec tools under the Hyper Tough brand for walmart. Well, some of them. The battery only has slightly different slots that can be altered to fit Nextec and vice versa.
I’d expect Chervon will be implementing the Nextec designs or something similar in their new Skil-branded 12V cordless tools since they bought the brand from Bosch. If they don’t show up at walmart, they’re likely to show up at Lowe’s.
Cr8on
Is it just me or does it feel like Sears/Kmart’s websites are unnecessarily slow?
Mizzourob
I think some of this was foreshadowed when the C3 outdoor power tools were “discontinued” a little more than a year ago.
Nicholas Thomas Ranella
My sears in my town closed last year, about 20 minutes away the sears is still open, store has more water damged ceiling tiles than you can count. Floors are disgusting, Bathrooms falling apart. It’s honestly sad being in the store. I was even more upset when I needed a 3/8-24 tap, all the taps they carried were made in China. I couldn’t bring myself to buy them. I do honestly miss the craftsman professional line, I have a bunch of the pro made in USA tools, and they have been great. Just a sad story altogether.
Jim Felt
Factoring is a common financing tool in both retail and related industries. I wonder if Sears is so far behind the 8 Ball they can’t even muster a high enough rating for the factors?
As a side note I visited a nearby Sears recently and saw and bought an old stock German made tap holder and then spent 10 minutes looking for a tool department “associate” and finally found a single nearby appliance department guy to ring up my purchase? Huh?!
Jaytkif
Sears website is brutal, especially when compared to places like hd, lowes or amazon, why would anyone choose to buy from them on the web?
Also, Stuart is right about the maintenance of their stores, they are in terrible shape, and staff are generally in a bad mood. The hometown stores aren’t as bad but they got spun off awhile ago, as did Canadian Sears stores.
I had a few C3 tools but made the switch to Milwaukee M18 a few years ago and I am glad I did. I would not recommend that anyone get into the C3 line at this point, and this news cements it for me. Purchases of other tools from Sears should be considered disposable given the shaky nature of the organization. Lawsuits might just be a tactic to keep the the creditors at bay.
pete
I’m pretty sure they would save millions if they sold everything in the next 4 weeks and closed all their stores and gave up.
Week 1- 25% off everything
Week 2- 50% off everything
Week 3- 75% off everything
Week 4- 90% off everything
The have opened a new sears appliance store by my house, all they sell is appliances. The only people i see go in there are old people who still trust the name sears. How long till those people aren’t shopping there because of simply trusting the “sears name”?
Danny K
While I buy tools from hd, lowes, Amazon and online retailers, I did recently buy Wera, Knipex and Midwest from Sears. They were half the price with surprise points. Also, I like their buy online, 5 minutes pickup in store, which is much better than lowes or hd pickup. It would be sad to see sears gone and a loss for consumer with less competition.
Tom
Their buy online for store pickup is way better than Home Depot or Lowes. Still frustratingly slow sometimes, but the other big box stores always seem to take 15-20 minutes for the simplest pickups.
Stuart
I’ve experienced pick up issues, but it is a smoother system than other retailers. Well, except when they stop the clock before 5 minutes passes, and then take a lot longer to actually bring the product out. When they did that I’d have to fight for my $5 voucher.
Hang Fire
I agree. The local Sears personnel are outstanding. The real problem is their IT, their systems are either down, slow or partially functional at any given moment. If their computers happen to be working, things go very smoothly.
John S
I totally don’t understand his blog post. What did he honestly think was going to happen. First he tries to shame them with:
“One World has informed us of their intention to take the very aggressive step of filing a lawsuit against us as they seek to embarrass us in the media to force us to let them out of their contract. But Sears has nothing to be embarrassed about — we have lived up to our word under our contract, and we will take the appropriate legal action to protect our rights and ensure that One World honors their contract.”
saying they’re trying to embarrass them by making this public. Eh he’s the one making this public. But wait it gets better! Sears turns around and sues first! As you mentioned later in the day. So much for keeping it civil and private right?
When you stand up in front of your investors and say stupid stuff like:
“Our historical operating results indicate substantial doubt exists related to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”
at an annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of course your suppliers are going to wonder if you’ll pay them and want to re-negotiate contracts / set demands at the least or worst want to back out. Especially when you threaten bankruptcy.
Eddie and his buddies have picked Sears dry. Thank goodness at least they sold off Craftsman before they go under as that was the only “good” thing left of Sears.
Gary
The CEO of Sears can thank himself for wear going down the Drain. I was a big craftsman tool buyer into they stopped wanted to replace tools. And store Management would say if you didn’t like it buy my tools at Lowe’s. This is the problem with upper management they never look into the stores. All they do is look at the numbers and go by want store Management is telling them. If this CEO would have went for store to store every 6 to 8 months and seen what was going on they may still be in Business. Talk to people buying stuff from your stores. Wal-Mart is selling the same stuff Sears was cheaper.
hc
Unfortunately the CEO barricades himself in his fortress of solitude and doesn’t listen to anybody with mountains of facts that contradict his vision. Unfortunately, he owned too much of the company and been in charge for too long to do anything about it. At this point, he’s probably the only thing keeping Sears alive, but he’s also the cause of its downfall.
toolPathy
1. They should rename Sears back to Sears, Roebuck and Company
2. They shouldn’t try to compete with Target or Walmart
3. Focus on being the best in a few departments
Richard
There’s not a Sears within 25 miles of me. I wouldn’t buy from them for tools, for two reasons: 1)Durability. I broke three 3/8″ ratchets one weekend working on an old BMW, was PO’d they wouldn’t sell me rebuild kits and it was a 30min drive to swap them out. Bought a Snap-On and still use it some 15 years later.
2) Warranty. Who’s going to honor it, really?
Paul K
Much of Sears’s strategy seems to revolve around Lampert’s position as both the largest shareholder and most secured creditor. Spin off what can survive on it’s own, leaving Lampert largest share holder of those assets, string along the remainder with asset sales that position him as well as possible for the inevitable failure. This action is likely aiming to get a payout from TTI to leave/re-negotiate the contract.
The separate sorta unrelated store survival strategy has nothing to do with providing a quality experience, as most people have shared. It revolves around the Shop Your Way plan, creating an addictive shopping habit in what customers that remain.
Anyway, just my take, seems to be the two plans. Shame about the C3 line, could have been Ryobi competition.
Toolfreak
The C3 line WAS Ryobi competition, and they were also just re-branded Ryobi tools, too.
5.0Coyote
I’ve been saying for years Lampert will still come out on top if sears goes under. The shear volume of real estate that sears still owns can be sold off to other companies. I’ve already seen one large sears store be shrunken to 1/3 if it’s size to make room for two other retailers. Sears will be a good example to business classes of how to run a household name into the ground.
Toolfreak
Yeah, no kidding, the company who makes your cordless power tools doesn’t want to manufacture and ship them to you on your-say-so credit becase your company is going under and you might stiff them. Who could have possibly seen that coming?
I knew there was a reason I went with Bosch instead of buying cordless Craftsman anything….
Rman
After reading all the posts I’m not sure what to do with my C3 power tools? My starter level go to was c3 then the lithium batteries came out and the tools worked great. I have about ten batteries and two quad chargers with every c3 tool made. Started construction and went to Milwaukee m12 and m18 great workhorse tools. Not one failure except operator error and a lake. Do I try to sell my c3 stuff while people still have a connection to Sears’s brands. By not having any new c3 tools out and many discontinued will c3 die and my investment over the past 6 years go to the dump. Hope not but looks bad
Sorry no more sears anything for this tool nut Done
Patrick H
Sell now! I just sold my last C3 tool on Amazon about a month ago. I decided last august enough was enough and I had little confidence in craftsman supporting the big collection of C3 tools I had. Plus I hadn’t seen a new tool worth anything in two years. I figured sell em for what I can and switch to a brand that is investing in itself. I now have myself a nice collection of ryobi tools that I’m quite pleased with. They really seemed to have stepped it up the last couple years. Sell now while you can still get a return.
5.0Coyote
Go to eBay some of the older discontinued C3 tools sell for stupid amounts. The vacuum they used to sell is 3x on eBay with people actually buying it.
Hang Fire
This situation begs a philosophical question.
If Eddie cries “foul” in the retail forest, and no one hears him… is he still wrong?
David
My dream… Amazon buys them and turns them into their physical prescence, leveraging the existing brands as Amazon’s house brands (similar to Amazon Basics).
Stuart
There are other companies that would benefit from setting up shop in Sears’ retail space.
But here’s the thing – Sears stores are so big, there are few other retailers who could fill them.
That’s the problem. The stores are too big. Sears still has lots of sales, but their costs haven’t been reduced proportionally and so they’re losing massive amounts of money.
Some retailers, such as Barnes & Noble, have found at least a temporary balance by rejiggering their spaces.
Sears simply has too much retail space and nothing to do with it.
Amazon filling a space like that would be a huge waste of money for them. Amazon would even be hard-pressed to justify opening a store the size of an Apple Store.
Jim Felt
Actually Amazon has bricks and mortar stores I’ve visited that are sized like small Apple Stores. Obviously not like the flagship standalone Apple palaces
But your point is clearly well taken about Eddie’s real estate piggy bank options at some point coming to an end.
Ann
I could see Amazon potentially using the Sears real estate mostly as mini-warehouses, with just a small area of each building for customers to see a few featured products and pick up orders.
Lynyrd
One comment:
“Would that Armstrong facility have closed down if Sears had been keeping their Craftsman Pro tool lines alive, instead of switching to imported versions?”
Craftsman had little to kno historical agreements utilizing the Armstrong Facility.
Craftsman Professional Tool suppliers were Western Forge (Screwdrivers, Pliers, early Wrenches) and Danaher (Wrenches).
Stuart
1. It was widely believed that Craftsman Pro tools, at least certain ones, most notably full polish wrenches and specialty wrenches, were made by Armstrong.
I have an Armstrong wrench indistinguishable from my Craftsman, and have seen accidental cross branding once or twice.
2. Armstrong was part of Danaher, and then Apex Tool Group as a joint venture, and then Apex Tool Group when it was sold.
Hang Fire
Yes, I have Armstrong sockets filling gaps in older Craftsman sets… you cannot tell the difference unless you read the labeling.
5.0Coyote
Have an Armstrong socket that is identical to craftsman. With the strange double detent for Ratchet drives. Also if you look at older catalogs of craftsman and Armstrong. A lot of items are indentical.
Austin
It really won’t matter much longer. I predict that Sears will sell the smoking ruins of the Craftsman brand to stay afloat for a while longer before they go away forever.
It’s sad that something as iconic and American as Sears/Craftsman could just disappear, but they have made endless mistakes. Their stores are so bad, and the “shopping experience” is so horrible that I stopped going there.
The quality of the hand tools has slipped so far that I stopped buying them years ago. And I’d buy a Craftsman branded power tool why?
Hang Fire
You’re a little behind reading the news, huh?
Matt
Like you Stuart, I try not to even think about it anymore. I will always love old school Sears and Real Craftsman from those days. The memories anyway, but Lampert has just ruined it… Tying it to a lost cause like K-Mart was bad enough to begin with. Then with the offshoring of an American Icon like Craftsman, not doing literally anything to fix up the stores, on and on I could go. Most has already been mentioned anyway. It really burns me when these money men types take over these companies and just drive them into the ground and walk away.
The ridiculous Shop your way thing just turned people off. Why do you need Shop Your Way when you have Sears?? 3 words vs 1 to type into the web browser. You know, like the 1 word Amazon. Why not fix Sears instead? And now rebranding a bunch of Sears Hometown stores to ‘America’s Appliance Experts’. Again, you Had Sears! Why wasn’t that just fixed and built upon?? They had the greatest American tool brand in literally the history of our country and simply flushed it down the toilet with Chinese crap. I was once heartbroken that Craftsman was no longer Sears Craftsman but man, it’s like watching someone you love get treated horribly by the person they’re with. You become happy when they find someone who genuinely cares for them again! Thank you SBD!
Still, I love our local Sears, the employees who work there and despite the owner, still support those guys up the road. Until they’re gone that is. They ran the auto center into the ground so that parts closing in a few months. As a side note, I stopped at Sears to buy a few things and noticed they had a DeWalt mitre saw on display. Yet on the top of the saw was a Craftsman logo where the DeWalt one should have been. It was odd… But the sticker wasn’t a cheap one and it looked almost as if it were made for the saw. I took a picture and used it as my screensaver just because it was so bizarre.
JeffD
I predicted the slow demise of Craftsman/Sears many years. Consequently I sold/bartered my Crapsman tools for Wera, Wiha, PB Swiss, and Beta.
So long Sears, you were a good time while you lasted, but you’ve cheated on me.
Never again.
Matt
Ive been duping the system for several years by playing with Shop My Way points, browsing Sears Outlet, dredging through my local store liquidation auction site. I have accumulated a nice collection of C3 tools this way. I have been really enjoying the C3 line and think they are useful and durable for an average homeowner like me. My favorite finds? $40 Large capacity C3 XCP battery, and $20 shop vac, and $20 blower to name just a few.
When I think about it, a higher quality brand would not have this much inventory to be taken advantage of by deal seekers. Im going to be sad to see the tools and the deals go sometime sooner than later.
Joe C.
Sears is perfect example of how board of directors, CEO and CFO can destroy a great brand. These elitists are so out of touch with how to run a retail company. Their foolishness is only out done by their arrogance. Craftsman brand is MADE IN USA. They screwed over their employees, customers and now suppliers. What a freakin shame.
BFoote
It’s so sad. Instead of building a good solid business, these high mucki-mucks are are messing around like Hollywood celebrities, looking for highly lucrative deals, cause that’s how they justify their existence and and megabuck bonuses. Instead of keeping a smart eye and steady hand on the business, they are blinded by the glint and the glamour, chasing all the untried concepts pandered to the innocent students. Look how screwed of the politics is, lies, deceptions, opinions without facts, apparently nobody knows whats really going on. The Mom and Pops are disappearing, but they actually know what’s going on, They’ve got a vital stake in what’s going on. They actually Give-A-Damn. They want folks coming back, cause as owners they can’t run away. They aren’t trying to get a big mega check to hide in a foreign bank account, they want trust, invested in their clients, and in their employees. Conspicuous spending by upper management spoils the sensibilities of rank and file employees. There’s no love relationship if someone’s pissing in your face. I’m no business man, nor politician, just think I know good people when I see ’em, but I think there’s a lot of folks who think they’re scholars in these fields, but they just really don’t know, because there’s no steadfast solid, knowledgeable yardstick to measure by. I believe the vetting process by which we measure leaders, is actually weeding out the good leaders, and selecting the most viscous, narcissistic, self centered, manipulative SOB’s , float to the top. Not the cream, but rather the slag, and then put them in charge. No wonder Good Leaders are being crushed. —- this will continue for a while —- I think the only way this will resolve beneficially, is to turn over the compost pile, get some fresh air in there.
— Retired Electrical Engineer — Good Luck
Jim Felt
Given the three fold increase in the GDP percentage “value” of Wall Street in the past half century could “we” be anywhere else?
What after all does Wall Street actually create or produce?
Oh. I see. Profit. Aah.
Framer joe
If SBD had released Craftsman tools ..ONLY ..made in the USA and nothing else, none of this would happen. F#?& Old inventory, …
People were ready to buy USA made Craftsman tools ….such a waste
Robert
I knew this was coming back in 2005, when I had a problem with the Kingston, NY store. When I called corporate headquarters 800 number the operator did not have the courtesy to put me on hold or mute the call when the supervisors response to my problem was “f@*k the customer”
Eddie Lampert should have been removed, shot in the head , body burned and tossed into a Chicago sewer long ago.
CEO’s who only think of filling their pockets instead of providing goods and services to customers and decent wages and benefits to employees, end up walking away and customers and employees end up with nothing.