They were sold to Stanley - Black & Decker for $800m.
[OP]
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They were sold to Stanley - Black & Decker for $800m.
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
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$800M, ouch.Originally Posted by Myk Rian
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From what I had seen, the quality had already dropped. I stopped buying their tools long ago. I suppose that the great warranty is pretty much gone now. Sad really. I remember buying their tools back in the 70's and thinking they would last a lifetime. I guess they did, just a short lifetime.
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Oh My- well this may be a good thing. I was just visiting the states and went to Sears with my brother. We were discussing what would happen to Craftsman Tools with the inevitable demise of Sears. I said that they weren't what they used to be anyway, and I blame that for part of why Sears has taken a dive. Craftsman Tools used to be unquestionable- they were good tools. You knew if you bought Craftsman you were getting quality. Now they have shifted to cheaply made and cheaply priced tools. It really hurt their brand. Perhaps Stanley will take them and make them similar to their Dewalt line as an upscale tool like they used to be.
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The WSJ said $900,000,000 but what's a hundred million? It also said that the brand will no longer be tied to Sears. It might ensure the legacy of the brand after Sears succumbs.
Member
Its a little over 500M now, 250M down the road (3 years...like Sears will exist then) and royalty payments from Stanley back to Sears for some period. In 15 years Sears has to start paying royalties to Stanley. Total estimate is 900M. But its Sears...I'm sure when its said and done, they'll somehow lose both the brand and money.
Sears is toast anyway. They need to make it to July so that the "good" real estate they spun off is free and clear of the bankruptcy claims. That's the only reason the CEO is pumping money in.
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Our local Sears is on the latest list of stores to close. Too bad it same to this.
John
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Sad to see the never ending slow demise of a once great retailer. Back in the day (60s-70s) the axiom was Craftsman tools were solid as long as they didn't have a cord. Many of my Craftsman wrenches, levels, pliers, screwdrivers, socket sets, etc, are still with me. Framing Hammers were Vaughn.
Member
Just told my wife I should list my last set of Craftsman sockets on Craigslist and put whatever money I can get for them toward something better. Don't see the warranty being worth much going forward. Even if they honor it the current sockets are junk. I think I'm down to one set of Craftsman sockets and a couple Craftsman hammers.
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I have a bunch of Craftsman mechanic's tools that I bought long ago. Still good tools. I don't do that kind of work any more so the tools don't get used much. I'll have to figure out who I want to leave them to - someone who will use and take care of them.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
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Agreed. The alluring feature with Sears Craftsman hand tools was that lifetime warranty / replacement and in my experience, Sears stores generally honored it without much trouble. Likely this all goes away with B&D running the brand. I have had some limited success with B&D Delta honoring warranty replacement for outright failure-as-new with their Delta plumbing fixtures brand. Who knows what might develop with the Craftsman proper brand? I own a number of their power tools also, including a vintage drill press. Just informed this week that the Sears retail hardware & tools location that my father worked at part-time more than 35 years ago will be fully shut down within 6 weeks. Sad situation, especially considering the plus one hundred more Sears retail stores nationwide slated to close within a few months and the thousands of rural retail employees impacted at the very beginning of this new year...
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My Mother-in-law worker for Emerson, who made the Craftsman power tools in the early 1980's.
I still have my drill press from then, accurate, solid drill press which I paid 50% of retail for as an employee discount.
They weren't inexpensive then, perhaps that allowed them to make something that lasted.
As to their hand tools, last year I was in the US and went to a hardware store that was selling Craftsman hand tools, I was surprised as I thought it was a Sears only brand.
Sad to see retailers go down like that..............Rod.
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About half of the tools at Orchard Supply Hardware appear to be Craftsman brand. An I recall seeing an occasional socket/wrench set at Costco. According to the news article, 90% of the Craftsman product is still sold at Sears stores.
Steve
Contributor
Orchard Supply Hardware was owned by Sears. After the takeover, OSH went downhill fast. Currently Lowes owns OSH:
The article is from September of 2013.Home improvement retailer Lowe's ( LOW ) has completed the acquisition of Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) for $205 million. Under the deal, Lowe's has gained ownership and control of the majority of Orchard Supply's assets, including 72 stores. However, it has also assumed responsibility for payables owed to nearly all of Orchard's supplier partners.
Orchard Supply had earlier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being weighed down by years of declining sales, an overcrowded California market and massive debt which it inherited from its parent company Sears Holding Corporation.
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/lowes-...#ixzz4UzxfFxhh
When my residence was in California OSH was a great place to shop before Sears took over. After that, the shelves started going empty. It was just recently the wife and I went to the closest OSH store to us in Beaverton, OR. One of the reasons to take a field trip was for the free calendars they have after Thanksgiving. My impression from talking to some of the staff was they didn't offer calendars for a few years. They used to offer a couple of different calendars, one with the traditional train drawings and another with a botanical theme. There also seemed to be a few other hiccups in the supply chain. A member of the staff told me they were out of large paper bags at the registers and looked like it was going to be a week before they got more.
Poor management can ruin a business even if the best people in the world are working on the floors and in the aisles.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Moderator
OSH has done quite well here around the SF Bay Area, Jim, and I was unaware of its ails or at least it was never obvious to me. Interesting. It is one of my favorite places to shop. I'll pay a little more at OSH for plumbing and electrical stuff over the orange and blue boxes but they are usually more organized and keep things well stocked and the folks working the particular aisles always seem to be retired tradesmen...of that aisle's contents. About 2-3 years ago, the OSH that was within walking distance of my house took over a building that use to be a Mervyn's and moved there. It is further away now and I'll admit I don't go there as much now but it is a beautiful place and still a pleasure to shop there.
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