I agree. the same thing happened to Service Merchandise back in the early 90’s when the canned gun sales, the store went quickly down hill then closed.
Sears went on a serious down hill slip after pulling guns from their shelves and I believe only the craftsman tool name kept them alive.
I recently took in an old pair of rose clippers back to Sears because they had finally worn out (Craftsman) and they replaced them (made in China) and now they just chew the stems rather than cut - worse than my worn out ones which I should have kept.