Sears sells Craftsman brand

[VaPatentman]

Kiss the "LIFETIME" guarantee good-bye! Tried to get a replacement for a pair of needle nose pliers last week and my local store told me since Craftsmen was sold they don't have to replace broken tools. I was a very loyal customer for years. As a casual mechanic I had pride in all of my Craftsmen tools. They may not have been on the same level as Mac, Snap-on, Cromwell and some others but for a weekend warrior they performed pretty well. Although they aren't a full line toolmaker, one brand that hasn't changed in my opinion is Channel-Lock, the pliers I bought for my son-in law for Christmas are pretty much the same both in style and quality as the ones I bought in the 70's.  Vice Grips aren't the same since Stanley bought them and moved manufacturing from Nebraska to some other country as there first order of business. If you work in a company and see Stanley execs pull up out front you best start looking for a new job because they will be sending yours overseas.

[BillyT]

My dad bought me a Sears toolbox and a set of sockets and end wrenches when I was about 13. They were stolen out of my car when I was about22! Since my wife worked at Sears every time something went on closeout that I could use she got It for me! My last Sears gift is a heat senser. I had no idea what it was! One of the members mentioned that you could use it to see how well each cylinder was firing! Cool! Va patentman,I feel your pain! The "Vise grip" hasn't been an actual vise grip for decades! Vise grip style pliers have carried the craftsman and other brand names for years! Another example of a brand name indicating a style of tool was the Milwaukee "sawzall" indicating a reciprocating saw! Other brands have sold these saws,including Craftsman,which was a p.o.s.! Although some Craftsman power tools have been high quality, like my mitre saw and 40 year old 4.5" grinder,both made in Japan! Quite frankly, I think fewer Americans actually care where anything is made except a handful of old f..ks like me and many of our members! There may be hope,as I see Toyota and Mazda have a joint venture to build cars near Huntsville Al!

[BillyT]

My dad bought me a Sears toolbox and a set of sockets and end wrenches when I was about 13. They were stolen out of my car when I was about22! Since my wife worked at Sears every time something went on closeout that I could use she got It for me! My last Sears gift is a heat senser. I had no idea what it was! One of the members mentioned that you could use it to see how well each cylinder was firing! Cool! Va patentman,I feel your pain! The "Vise grip" hasn't been an actual vise grip for decades! Vise grip style pliers have carried the craftsman and other brand names for years! Another example of a brand name indicating a style of tool was the Milwaukee "sawzall" indicating a reciprocating saw! Other brands have sold these saws,including Craftsman,which was a p.o.s.! Although some Craftsman power tools have been high quality, like my mitre saw and 40 year old 4.5" grinder,both made in Japan! Quite frankly, I think fewer Americans actually care where anything is made except a handful of old f..ks like me and many of our members! There may be hope,as I see Toyota and Mazda have a joint venture to build cars near Huntsville Al!

[BillyT]

I noticed that Sears did almost no  holiday advertising this year! This portends of their demise more than any single thing I can imagine! From the days of the " wish book" to last year when they did significant (but less than previous years holiday advertisement to this year when they did almost none! )I went into our local Sears before Christmas this year and it was deserted! I was the only customer visable!

[BillyT]

KSB, off subject, but you keep your "finger on the pulse" of all facets of the trucking industry! Just got a "teaser copy" of Rolling Stone magazine, had an article "the death of the American trucker" referring to autonomous semi trucks, said to be ready to roll today according to Elon Musk! If you don't have a copy you need to get one! Your comments please?

[kscarbel2]

30 minutes ago, BillyT said:

KSB, off subject, but you keep your "finger on the pulse" of all facets of the trucking industry! Just got a "teaser copy" of Rolling Stone magazine, had an article "the death of the American trucker" referring to autonomous semi trucks, said to be ready to roll today according to Elon Musk! If you don't have a copy you need to get one! Your comments please?

Billy, the many predictions of "the death of the American trucker" are greatly exaggerated.

[HeavyGunner]

5 hours ago, BillyT said:

 I think fewer Americans actually care where anything is made except a handful of old f..ks like me and many of our members! 

Don’t worry there are more younger guys like me that prefer the made in the USA written on what they purchase than you think I hope. Does bum me out that craftsman is gone and no more warranties. I’ve bought some Husky tools and they seem decent for a shade tree mechanic and I also check out the pawn shops when I go to town for good lifetime warrantied tools. Is SK and Proto still in business? I’ve got some of their tools I bought used but I don’t recall ever seeing them for sale or any advertisements for them. 

[Hobert62]

Stanley has its hands in a lot of names.  

[Ezrider]

my dad bought a century farm after i was grown and it had a old sears house. the story is it came by train to a near by depot and then by horse drawn waggon to its current location and then assembled by the orrigional familly that farmed that land for more than 100 years. it was a pretty cool house seemed way better biult than the cookie cutter houses now days. 

[gxbxc]

I got my first Craftsman tool in about 1958, one piece a week, before that it was Kresge for the dime tools later it was Blackhawk and Proto.I still have a kresge  screw driver with a wooden handle and the shaft running through the handle with a steel button on the end of the handle . I abused that tool more than any I have ever owned but I still got it.

Oh and don't forget the rubber industry in Ct Uniroyal  Naughatuck. Armstrong tire Norwalk  ,AMF Stamford ,Torrington bearing ,Barden bearing . You had Bullard tool in Bridgeport.Some big high pressure Compresser company in S Norwalk , Bridgeport Mills (Where else) ,Jenkens Brass valves ,and General electric  also , And just for old times sake let us not forget Jimmies of SavenRock,

[carlotpilot]

amazing  someone remembers ss kresge`s

[gxbxc]

My first tax paying job was stock boy at S.S.Kresge.  even owned stock in them until the first bankruptcy 

Edited January 11, 2018 by gxbxc

[Brocky]

For several years (1975 to 1985) I lived in Kresgeville, PA.. Southwest of Stroudsburg on US 209..His original store was just outside town.. Do not know if it still exists?? There were a few people in the area that lived comfortably on old Kresge money..

[66dc75]

Kresge's Brockton Ma then and now. (pile of bricks were brought in for Detroit movie set, it's actually an empty lot now)

[HeavyGunner]

On January 10, 2018 at 6:31 PM, Ezrider said:

my dad bought a century farm after i was grown and it had a old sears house. the story is it came by train to a near by depot and then by horse drawn waggon to its current location and then assembled by the orrigional familly that farmed that land for more than 100 years. it was a pretty cool house seemed way better biult than the cookie cutter houses now days. 

There is a Sears kit house outside of town near me. It looks very fancy for its day, it even has a bank of waist high glass batteries for the oldest wind tower generator I've ever seen.  It has a wood/coal fired furnace, 2 stories over a basement and had two little decks on the second floor. About 20 years ago the house  was definitely in good enough shape that it could've been usable. The people who own it told every local that commented on what a shame to let that house sit there and deteriorate that they could have the home. Most thought they cut a fat hog when they heard they could have a free house until they figured out the cost to move it. 

[Ezrider]

sounds pretty similar to my dad's house. i don't remember a lot of details about it. when they moved there i was living over 1000 miles away. and only went there to visit a hand full of times. everything was still pretty original in the house. some remenates of the old cloth covered wiring secured by ceramic posts was still in the house (no longer in use) but in the basement and and attic it was still in place. 

 

i remember having some discussions and looking into a little bit what it costs to move a house, and although i don't remember what exactly the cost was but i know it seemed cheap for what all is involved in moving a house. (i wanna say 30k ish) including building the new foundation and setting the house. obviously depends on how far it needs to move as well

[kscarbel2]

Sears CEO Lampert offers $400 million for Kenmore

CNN Money  /  August 15, 2018

Sears Holdings, a cash-starved retailer which owns both the Sears and Kmart chains, has been shopping Kenmore and some of its other assets for years in an effort to raise additional money. Once a leader in sales of appliances, Sears has fallen on hard times due to sustained losses and falling sales. But the Kenmore brand is still widely seen as having value even if the Sears brand has been tarnished.

Lampert wrote a letter to the Sears' board earlier this year suggesting now was the time to find a buyer for Kenmore. He said he was willing to make a bid for the brand and some of the other assets himself. Late Tuesday he released his latest letter to the Sears board, saying he was willing to pay $400 million for Kenmore and an additional $70 million to $80 million for the Sears Home Services division, also known as SHIP.

Lampert said he's prepared to close on the deal in as little as 60 to 90 days.

"Speed and certainty here are critical," he wrote in the letter. "We believe, therefore, that an expedited process is in the best interest of all parties involved."

Sears declined to comment on Lampert's letter.

Sears has lost $11.2 billion since 2010, its last profitable year. Sales have plunged 60% in that time. There were a total of 3,500 US Kmart and Sears stores when Lampert merged the two brands together in 2005. Now it has fewer than 1,000.

And the company has sold many of the remaining stores to a real estate investment company also controlled by Lampert in order to raise money. It is paying rent on those stores to that real estate company.

Sears Holdings also sold the Craftsman brand of tools to Stanley Black & Decker last year in a deal valued at $900 million.

Lampert's letter repeated his past statements that he believes that Sears can still be turned around despite its financial problems. But he also proposed negotiating with lenders to try to extend the repayment schedule for some of Sears debt and engage in other forms of renegotiation.

"Together, we believe these transactions would contribute to a comprehensive solution to create a viable and healthy Sears and would provide greater value to all stakeholders than would be available in pursuing other alternative," he said in the letter.

The letter did not spell out those alternatives, but Sears warned last year that there is "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business long term. A bankruptcy reorganization could be one of those alternatives.

[mowerman]

On 1/11/2018 at 4:32 PM, 66dc75 said:

Kresge's Brockton Ma then and now. (pile of bricks were brought in for Detroit movie set, it's actually an empty lot now)

spent alotta time in the one in peobody as a kid just about everything we owed cam from there they hadda real cool soda fountain,,,,we either shopped there,sears and robucks or jorden marsh,,,,,all great stores....bob

[blackdog2]

According to the CEO of Stanley  on local TV interview they are bringing it back to the  USA with in the next 3-years they do own a lot of company's  ...

[mowerman]

that would be wonderful,,,lets hope so....more jobs baby....bob

[kscarbel2]

Sears' CEO has come up with a last-minute plan to save it from bankruptcy

The Washington Post  /  September 24, 2018

Sears could face bankruptcy if it doesn't meet its next debt payment, due in the coming weeks. Now, the retailer's chief executive has come up with a last-minute plan to save it, after already shuttering thousands of stores and selling off some of its key brands.

Eddie Lampert, who owns the hedge-fund ESL Investments and is also the retailer's largest shareholder and creditor, has asked creditors to refinance $1.1 billion in debt before a $134 million debt payment due Oct. 15, according to a Sunday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He also called for the company to sell off $3.25 billion worth of real estate and assets, including Sears Home Services and the company's flagship Kenmore brand, which Lampert offered to buy last month for $400 million.

In the filing, Lampert's hedge fund said it "must act immediately to have sufficient runway to continue its transformation" if Sears is to become profitable again. The company, which includes 820 Sears and Kmart stores, has about $5.6 billion in outstanding debt.

"Eddie Lampert is seeking permission from himself to keep Sears on life-support while he continues to drain every last remaining drop of blood from its corpse," said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School and the former chief executive of Sears Canada. "The operation is a failure and there is no plan to turn that around."

Sears said its board, which is chaired by Lampert, had received the proposal and had directed its advisors "to work closely with ESL." Analysts said the plan is likely to pass since Lampert is Sears' largest shareholder.

Lampert's latest attempts may provide a short-term life line, but analysts said that it is not a sustainable plan for a company that has failed to reinvent itself for an era of online shopping. Sears, which hasn't turned a profit since 2010, last year posted a loss of $383 million. Sales dropped 25 percent to $16.7 billion.

Sears, founded 125 years ago as a mail-order business, was for decades one of the nation's premier retailers. But in recent years, it has slumped, even as its competitors report quarter after quarter of growth.

"Without revenue growth, Sears will remain a company at risk," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients. "As usual, Sears is focusing on financial maneuvers and missing the wider point that sales remain on a downward trajectory."

[Freightrain]

We had a Kresge's in downtown Canton.   That goes wayyy back.  I think they were still open in early 80's?  Or at least some store was there as I waited for the bus to come home from HS.  This was about 3rd and Cleveland ave, just north of downtown square(ice skating ring in the winter).

[RowdyRebel]

Still strange walking into Lowe's and seeing Craftsman tool boxes being sold. Their Kobalt branded boxes are all on clearance...apparently Craftsman wanted exclusivity. If the wanted to sell Craftsman, they couldn't also sell their own Kobalt boxes.
At least that's what the sales associate told me when I asked where the Kobalt boxes were.  Need a large "shop" tool box and was shopping around comparing options and prices.

 

[gxbxc]

ever thing I read about the sears sell off of assets ,makes me believe this guy is laundering money ,He sells divisions to his private company who then market them for cash money that can not be tied up in Bankruptcy proceeding. leaves investors holding the bag.

 

[kscarbel2]

Sears hires advisers to file for bankruptcy

The Wall Street Journal  /  October 9, 2018

Sears Holdings Corp. has hired M-III Partners LLC to prepare a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this week, as the cash-strapped company that once dominated American retailing faces a debt payment deadline.

Employees at M-III Partners, a boutique advisory firm, have spent the past few weeks working on the potential filing. In recent days, M-III staff have been at the retailer’s headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Sears continues to discuss other options and could still avert an in-court restructuring.

Sears SHLD, -28.56%  , which has been losing money for years, has $134 million in debt due on Monday. Edward Lampert, the hedge-fund manager who is Sears’s chairman, chief executive, largest shareholder and biggest creditor, could rescue the company, as he has done in the past by making the payment.

But Lampert is pushing for a broader restructuring that would include shaving more than $1 billion from Sears’s $5.5 billion debt load, selling another $1.5 billion of real estate and divesting $1.75 billion of assets, including the Kenmore appliance brand, which he has offered $400 million to buy himself.