[Leaning Right]

At one time, the brand name Black & Decker meant something. Now it means nothing. I suppose Craftsman will go that same route.

[CodeToad]

That ends Sears. Not kidding. That and Kenmore are their two primary brands. One gone, the other struggling.

[steve8714]

Sears is just stupid.

[freedumb2003]

>>At one time, the brand name Black & Decker meant something. Now it means nothing. I suppose Craftsman will go that same route.<<

The article is right — what does “Sears” even mean? This is the day that future financial people will say “Sears” began to cease to exist.

I predict it won’t make it through Summer.

[CodeToad]

I no longer buy anything B&D. Haven’t in many years. Junk products overall. There are far too many other brands that make competitively priced good products.

[Lurkinanloomin]

That’s the end of Sears.
Craftsman tools were the only reason I went there.

[Gaffer]

I agree. I still have a commercial Black Maxx Right Angle drill that has more than off torque to throw you off a ladder if you hit a nail or something.

I was wiring a house once where there was a flitch plate sandwiched between two 2X12s and it caught the edge of the flitch plate. It threw me off the ladder about 10 ft away.

I still have it. I consider it the best right angle heavy borer ever made.

[Fido969]

Black and Decker has become the classic low-end tool brand, lowest quality and cheapest price.

[bert]

Sears is closing two stores in the Tri Cities area. The one in Bristol was in the Bristol mall that was nearly vacant.

The one in Kingsport must be doing poorly. The K Mart is apparently alive but when I drive past, there aren’t many customers.

[Red Badger]

The ate their seed corn......................

[Drew68]

Now it means nothing. I suppose Craftsman will go that same route.

All made in China now anyways. At this point, might as well buy the Husky or Kobalt store-brand tools you find yourself needing at Home Depot or Lowe's instead of driving out of the way to Sears.

Shame, too. Sears was an American institution ran into the ground by inept top-level management.

[George from New England]

In the last 10 years Black and Decker has gone to sh!t. I won’t buy anything by that Brand, so now Craftsman will be destroyed too.

[vette6387]

“At one time, the brand name Black & Decker meant something. Now it means nothing. I suppose Craftsman will go that same route.”

Stanley, Black & Decker and Craftsman used to ALL be quality brands, now they are just purchased names for Chinese crap.

Also in another post someone mentions Kenmore. Kenmore is just another name for Whirlpool-Maytag, etc. Go look up a part for a Kenmore washing machine, and you will find that it fits five or six other “brands” you probably thought were independent, but are all essentially the same machines with different labels built by one company.

[IronJack]

This is an act of desperation, what farmers used to call “eating the seed corn.” It will keep you alive but come spring, you’ll have nothing to plant.

Sears should have sold off everything BUT Craftsman.

[mountn man]

B&D is like the bottom tier of the company line.

I've never had a problem with Stanley tools and I work in construction.

I love my Dewalt power tools. As well as my Bostich nailers. We use Proto tools a lot on the job. Seem Okay.

Lots of mechanics use Mac tools without much complaint.

[circlecity]

I think we call this the “winding-down” process.

[fishtank]

I predict: Seer sears Sears.

[Jim from C-Town]

The death knell of Sears is also a symptom of the death of Middle Class America. Sears always WAS the consummate Middle Class department store. It offered high quality goods to the factory worker and mid level management families for over a hundred years. The slow death of Sears over the past thirty plus years tracks directly with the flattening of wages and the loss of middle class incomes and large middle class families.

[OKSooner]

Gee... +1 on the "This is the end of Sears" counter.

Craftsman hand tools were once a quality brand, with a lifetime guarantee.

Somewhere along the way Sears started calling EVERYTHING "Craftsman", like cheap lawn equipment that came with NO guarantee, in contrast to Craftsman hand tools that came with a lifetime warranty.

Also in the last few years they've been selling "OTC" (Other Than Craftsman) hand tools, which are junk. I bought a set of Sears non-Craftsman ratchet wrenches about a year ago and two of them didn't live thru the first use, they literally just fell apart. I didn't even bother to go ax for my money back, I just threw them in the trash and said I'd never go back to Sears.

Also manufacturing got moved out of the US. I've seen posts here where someone who seemed to know said that the company that HAD been making Craftsman tools for Sears is now making another brand of tools for another well-known outlet. I forget the particulars.

Anyway, yes, it's the end of Sears. They may as well sell off the Kenmore brand too now and just shut 'er down. At this point they'd be missed about like... like... what was the name of that book store... started with a B...

So who wants to own a really cool skyscraper in downtown Chicago?

[Ray76]

That’s the end of Sears.

[LibWhacker]

Goodbye, Sears, and good riddance.