Craftsman brand sold-maybe not

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I never was a sears fan for most stuff. Some appliances were ok, but I prefer local dealers. Tools were great, but not much else. I did like K-mart growing up for toys. We didnt have wal mart growing up, and when they appeared, they were immediately dirty and messy. The Kmart i shopped at from a very young age (and still do occasionally) is much neater and brighter. Its still open fwiw, with some of the same folks there that I remember ftom 20+ years ago.

It will be a shame when that store closes.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Good riddance. It matters to maybe older generations but recent generations could care less about this irrelevant company.


Everything is relevant. Time flows in a continuous, unceasing river. Understand the past, and you will understand the future. The past is prologue.
 
Sears is a complete joke. Everything is outdated and full of dust. Too little too late for them. They had many years to keep up with the times and every store is stuck in the 80's. Cheap stuff thats overpriced. Hope they call it quits and just end the inevitable.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
That is so sad. As a child our three most visited family stores were Montgomery Wards, Sear Roebuck and JC Pennys. I fear that in the next few years we will lose all three to China Mart aka WalMart.


Who cares? Everything from sears is made in China anyways...no difference..i wouldnt be surprised if WM had more stuff Made in USA...
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
Malls will still be open in more affluent suburbs - but the ones who depended on Sears/JCP/Macy's as their main attraction will eventually see the wrecking ball and get turned into market-rate housing or Wal-Mart will build there.

The issue with a major tenant leaving is that there is nobody else these days that wants to set up shop. The affordable department store is dead these days.

The big mall of my youth is now colloquially referred to as a "ghetto mall". It's not so much that it's in a bad neighborhood, but it's filled with a high proportion of independent stores and empty storefronts as well as kids with nothing else to do. It was kind of a miracle when a Sears moved in, but now JC Penney is closing there. They have a Macy's there too, but after a local departments store bought by Federated closed down, they turned that into an expanded Macy's before they shrunk down into one location. A Walmart opened in the shuttered location and is probably the only thriving store there.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: nthach
Malls will still be open in more affluent suburbs - but the ones who depended on Sears/JCP/Macy's as their main attraction will eventually see the wrecking ball and get turned into market-rate housing or Wal-Mart will build there.

The issue with a major tenant leaving is that there is nobody else these days that wants to set up shop. The affordable department store is dead these days.

The big mall of my youth is now colloquially referred to as a "ghetto mall". It's not so much that it's in a bad neighborhood, but it's filled with a high proportion of independent stores and empty storefronts as well as kids with nothing else to do. It was kind of a miracle when a Sears moved in, but now JC Penney is closing there. They have a Macy's there too, but after a local departments store bought by Federated closed down, they turned that into an expanded Macy's before they shrunk down into one location. A Walmart opened in the shuttered location and is probably the only thriving store there.


You bring up a good point. I have read many Malls will be demolished or re-purposed in the future because they are also obsolete.
 
I wonder if it was some sort of PR stunt.

"We're going to do great things!"

Then they try to sell off their only profitable brand.

"We can't make it"

And the deal doesn't happen. Sounds to me like it's almost an outcry and PR stunt to try to get people to come to their stores.

I don't know much about Sears, but my mom never actually buys anything from KMart. They always have some sort of free kmart cash promotion or something and she ends up getting free stuff. That's the only time she'll actually go into one.
 
I only went to Sears for trading in broken Craftsman tools and tires in the last 25yrs. My father bought all sorts of stuff mail order from them. I think their mail order business was an inspiration for all the inter-net commerce of today. It was the transition to real estate that did Sears in. Times change. You must adapt with them. Look what happened to Studebaker.
 
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Originally Posted By: madRiver
Good riddance. It matters to maybe older generations but recent generations could care less about this irrelevant company.

i care, have relatives working for them...

Oh boy, if you would only hear the stories from the web coding divisions.....
you as an experienced web architect, would have a lot of raised hair....
 
When KMart bought Sears around 13 years ago, I knew the entire two franchise lifetimes were now numbered. All the Sear front offices were taken over by KMart heads, which took KMart to near-bankruptcy a few years earlier -- then the Sears stores started looking like KMart stores.

I was almost ready to buy a Craftsman lawnmower next month (April). But not anymore. It'll be someone else's that's cheap. The Honda I bought 6-7 years ago is falling apart. The Toro before that would collect grass clippings underneath and clog all the time. Snapper before that one lost compresssion early.

Anyone sell a trustworthy 10 year lawnmower for cutting a small backyard anymore -- that's not over $300? I don't need front or rear wheel drive. Just a regular push-type that runs good -- starts easy and won't bog in grass that's only 2" taller than what was cut last week.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Good riddance. It matters to maybe older generations but recent generations could care less about this irrelevant company.

i care, have relatives working for them...

Oh boy, if you would only hear the stories from the web coding divisions.....
you as an experienced web architect, would have a lot of raised hair....


Sorry about your relatives, I presume an older generation who still believes in sticking it out with the company?
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
I only went to Sears for trading in broken Craftsman tools and tires in the last 25yrs. My father bought all sorts of stuff mail order from them. I think their mail order business was an inspiration for all the inter-net commerce of today. It was the transition to real estate that did Sears in. Times change. You must adapt with them. Look what happened to Studebaker.

It's kind of odd how the reputation has been done in over the years. For some reason I remember the game show Tic-Tac-Dough had one question asked of the two contestants, which was to name one of the top 10 largest companies by revenue. This was back in the 80s. The contestants didn't go for the big names. One said Sears and of course the answer was wrong. However, that was the reputation. Exxon was the #1 in the Fortune 500, but it was 7 oil companies in the top 10, with GM, Ford, and IBM the other 3.

I do remember when Sears tried to broaden their portfolio back in the 70s/80s. They were one of the founding investors in Prodigy. They bought Dean Witter. They developed the Discover Card. They already owned Allstate Insurance. I'm not sure that diversifying was necessarily the best thing for the company.
 
I predicted they would retreat to small towns even before I knew my relatives would open a new one a mile from my house. Same distance from TSC - who has a wide selection of China powered equipment - bash ahead - but I'm still buying Craftsman mowers if it is US made and has a US made B&S motor ...
Yes it is probably MTD ... but we all know various companies build (oil filters, appliances, etc) per another company specs ...
 
Locally owned Sears Outlets, and Sear's Hometown Stores is the only way they will survive. (and allowing Craftsman to sell tools at Ace) They will survive only as a supplier to franchised stores.

These stores are also newer. IMO, we got a Big K, much like the Wal-Marts before the "supercenters" took over. The problem is the place has not seen improvements since it was built, back in the 1980's. It's a dump.

Again, it is Kmart that never learned, they started to fail when they put "PC" above sales.... You used to be able to buy ammo at Kmart. The lack of support is why they are in the mess they are in now. When they dumped Rosie, how many of you went back? Considering they were actually competing with Walmart, nobody returned!
 
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I'd rather see a company fail - than a company fail a county.
Some of the "good" brick and mortar stores are on borrowed time via KORUS and other unseen negatives coming to a city near you ...
 
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