Sears sold Craftsman!

I have no idea what to advise Sears do at this late stage, other than shoring themselves up where they can. They had a great run. In addition to Sears selling off Craftsman, which to my understanding is a very strong brand, the chain is closing dozens more stores. Buying habits of consumers have evolved. It's been years since I set foot in a Sears store but at one point, when I still used the mall, it was one of four "anchor" stores. Was in it frequently. Mall shopping was never something I enjoyed, tho. The advent of big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot displaced Sears for me. Online shopping is my overall preference and I was surprised to learn recently that only 10% of all purchases are made online. So Sears' failure to secure the online market was not a huge reason for its decline.

 

Are we going to see Craftsman tools at Lowe's and Home Depot now? Why couldn't they find a non-competitor to buy Craftsman? Although at this point, everything is made by China just with different brand names attached.

While I like Sears, I think the competition from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and all the auto repair/tire stores is just too much. They needed to drop some of the products that don't sell, like how many people buy TV's from Sears? And expanded in other areas where people would go there for. Like lawnmowers, grills, tools, etc.

 

Oh dear.

Craftsman used to make really, really good stuff back in the day, but from what I understand quality has been really lacking over the past decade or so.

I live in a bit of a vacuum, so I really had no idea Sears was in such a bad way to sell off what is probably one of their number 1 moneymakers (*everyone* knows the Craftsman brand, the tools basically sell themselves).

Sad to hear.

 

I bought quite a bit of Craftsman tools and toolchests when the local Sears went under. Good value at >50% off.

At this point, Sears just needs to die. There's no saving them.

 

Sears without Craftsman products would be like a butcher shop that didn't sell beef and poultry.

Sears sold many items--mostly but not exclusively tools & yard equipment--under the Craftsman name, but Sears/Craftsman (S/C) did not and does not manufacture any of those items. They were/are made for Sears by other companies.

The S/C model numbers usually* read something like this 123.45678; the three digit prefix identifies which company actually made the product. You can lists on the net with searches like 'Who makes Sears and Craftsman products?'.

*Recently I have seen some S/C products that use a different model number system. I haven't made the effort to decipher it.

 

I don't think Sears is dying........I think they're already dead, there just hasn't been a funeral yet.

 

Tutorial on how to kill your company:
Inside Sears' death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy