Sears selling Craftsman brand for nearly $1 billion to Stanley Black & Decker

[Curt Harms]

I don't think it has been mentioned in the thread but part of the reason Craftsman sold for such short money is Sears can develop manufacture and sell Craftsman tools for the next 15 years royalty free and from then on in perpetuity continue at a 3% royalty rate.

So China's gonna buy Sears? It seems unlikely that Sears in its present form will be around in 5 years, let alone 15.

[Brian Henderson]

Actually, the rumor is that Stanley is going to build a plant in the U.S. to build Craftsman tools, so that might be something positive to come from this.

[Dave Lehnert]

Actually, the rumor is that Stanley is going to build a plant in the U.S. to build Craftsman tools, so that might be something positive to come from this.

Stanley already has a factory East of Cincinnati that makes rolling tool chests. Be interesting to see if manufacturing there pick up.

[Van Huskey]

So China's gonna buy Sears? It seems unlikely that Sears in its present form will be around in 5 years, let alone 15.

While I don't disagree, I would bet they figure a way to continue to sell Craftsman tools. I think they probably have a plan to do that since they could have gotten a lot more money from Stanley if they sold them "completely" and I don't think the top management has any romantic notion about them being around as the Sears we know for another 100 years.

[Van Huskey]

Stanley already has a factory East of Cincinnati that makes rolling tool chests. Be interesting to see if manufacturing there pick up.

They have 10 or 12 manufacturing plants in the US and have increased the headcount in these facilities over 35% in the last 3 years.

[Brian Henderson]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...rump/96192526/

Hopefully more companies will follow suit.

[Van Huskey]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...rump/96192526/

Hopefully more companies will follow suit.

The problem with plants built and opened with risk avoidance as the primary goal is that the plant is poised to be the first one on the chopping block if the risk doesn't come to fruition or when it is negated by other factors. Companies that are large enough to safely hedge both alternatives will do OK, smaller companies that can't hedge both scenarios are forced into a boom or bust scenario.

[Brian Holcombe]

There would be a value in quality tools that you can go and buy off a rack.....like to there used to be. Most of the tools I've bought from BORGs have been light use or single use with the expectation that I would throw them away if they did not perform.

Plenty of companies already exist in the bottom rungs, they need to improve if they want to survive (in my opinion).

[Dan Friedrichs]

This is a general comment on the state of retail as we once knew it. Penny's, K Mart, Sears.......all in deep doo doo.l

I think it's more a comment on the state of stagnating companies that refuse to innovate or change. Nordstrom has been outperforming every other department store for years, and is a golden child of both the market and their customers. Their stores are fresh, clean, trendy, and have merchandise across several price points. Their customer service is legendary, and their online presence is better than any.

Now, name one positive thing about Penny's, Kmart, or Sears.

It's their own fault. Let them die.

[Ray Newman]

Last summer (2016), one of the on-line business magazines/news sites (??Forbes or Business Insider??) had an article about Sears and its prospects for the future. According to the article, back in the early 1990's, Sears had the opportunity to become an Amazon on-line seller. Those fostering the idea said that with Sears' previous large scale catalogue experience, distribution points/warehouses, store net work, etc., Sears would once again be the leading or a leading retailer. Sears did not adopt the concept as it was felt that nothing could hurt the old brick and mortar retail stores.

[Ronald Blue]

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 Sears 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...

Delta faucets are not owned by Stanley Black and Decker. They and Peerless are part of Masco Corporation.

[Ronald Blue]

Some other quality USA made brands are Armstrong, Williams and Proto. Stanley has owned Proto for a good long time. They are a pretty diverse company and it is using a wide brush indeed to paint them as not having any quality products. They are a corporation and they are in business to make money. Same as every other company. Snap-On sells the Bluepoint line and some of those are imported also,

[Morey St. Denis]

Thank you for that correction Ron,

My bad, I was indeed mistaken about it being a Delta / Peerless brand. That replacement kitchen faucet purchased a decade ago from Lowe's was a Pfister, which at that time to my eye at least, in larger sizes shared certain style characteristics with Delta. Whenever you have a warranty replacement or quality control issue with a Pfister product, I came to learn; you are required to take it up with Stanley Black & Decker as corporate owner and customer service center.

Since then, as time & wear requires, I often prefer to replace household plumbing fixtures with a German make. Through plenty of experience, both personally and professionally, I have come to favor either Hansgrohe or Grohe design. It is my understanding that Freidrich Grohe, son of original founder Hans Grohe, initiated the Grohe AG brand name around 1936. Father Hans remained concentrated on showers and drainage products while Freidrich & company pursued opportunities with specialized sanitary fittings. Interestingly enough, here again we eventually come round to the aforementioned Masco Corp, which presently owns more than 2/3 controlling interest in Hansgrohe SE. Thanks again for affording that opportunity to refresh and enlighten my memory.

[Jeff Ramsey]

I used to pick up broken Craftsman tools at flea markets for a song, take them back to Sears and trade them in for new. That is until one of the new screwdrivers broke. I looked closely at the broken section and it looked like sand superglued together with a silver wrapping. I haven't picked up a broken screwdriver at a flea market for some time. My last screwdriver set purchase was a Klein. Many many years ago Craftsman tools were decent. Oh well ... the clock turns.

[howard s hanger]

I just started replacing my Craftsman with Wera. Great German brand, very innovative and a joy to use. I have been looking for projects to do just to use them!