Nothing to do with Golf - Sears Sells Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Fascinating story - Sears is shedding what may be its biggest asset for a relative bargain price. Hey, if adidas can sell TaylorMade, Sears can sell Craftsman...

 

 

SEARS SELLS THE CRAFTSMAN BRAND TO STANLEY BLACK & DECKER FOR $900 MILLION

1 HOUR AGO â€¢ ENTERTAINMENT, NEWS

Posted by Craig Fitzgerald
 

It could be the end of the line for Sears, Roebuck and Co., the legendary retailer that started out selling shovels and pickaxes to pioneers through its mail order catalog. Today, Sears announced that it was selling the Craftsman brand  for $900 million to Stanley Black & Decker.

 

For many consumers that have watched Sears degrade from a retail powerhouse to a slightly upgraded Dollar Store, the Craftsman brand was about the only reason left to ever enter a Sears location. With the sale to one of the brand's chief competitors — Stanley Black & Decker — the end may be in sight for Sears.
 

 

There's a glide path that allows Sears to make some money off the deal for the near future, according to the Chicago Tribune, which reported the story this morning. “Stanley will pay $525 million at closing, $250 million after three years, and make annual payments on new Craftsman sales for 15 years, the companies said in a statement Thursday. Sears will continue to sell Craftsman products at its stores. The license to Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears will be royalty-free for 15 years, and then generate 3 percent afterward.”
 

The trouble for Sears is that you can only do a deal like this once, maybe twice if there's any brand equity left in the Kenmore line of appliances. It's also not a lot of money for a brand as legendary as Craftsman. New Britain, Connecticut-based Stanley Black & Decker just paid twice that much for the Irwin and Lenox brands of tools from Newell Brands, Inc. for $1.95 billion just a few months ago. Irwin tools hang in just about every tool aisle in the country, providing locking pliers, chisels and other hand tools, along with once hard-to-find tools like screw extractors and rounded bolt extractors. Lenox is a massive provider of cutting tools, saw blades and utility knives. Neither are as recognized as Craftsman.
 

Sears did allow some sales of its Craftsman branded tools at other retailers prior to the sale. Ace Hardware, for example, sold Craftsman tools in its stores. But that only accounted for about 10 percent of all of Craftsman's retail sales in any given year. This deal blows that wide open. Stanley Black & Decker sells tools everywhere, from the last few remaining mom and pop lumber yards and auto parts stores, all the way up to major retailers like Home Depot. As soon as consumers know they can purchase a Craftsman tool without entering the depressing husk of a once-proud store like Sears, they'll shop elsewhere.
 

It's good news for American manufacturing, according to Stanley Black & Decker's CEO. “To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley Chief Executive Officer James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.”

 

[Golfspy_CG2]

Interesting, I've never been a big do it yourself guy, but whenever I bought tools, Craftsman was always the first brand I looked at.  And I of course bought the obligatory 130 piece set or something like that, that came in the hard case.  Just because I'm a guy, and guys have tools...right 

[evershady]

Is not the $70 million deal Dick got buying Golf Smith, but that's still a pretty sweet deal for them. Sears is not going to last much longer now. No reason to go into that place anymore.

 

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[Golfspy_CG2]

Is not the $70 million deal Dick got buying Golf Smith, but that's still a pretty sweet deal for them. Sears is not going to last much longer now. No reason to go into that place anymore.

 

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At our Mall, we park outside Sears as it's always the most empty section of the entire mall parking, and walk through the store on the way to the food court.  Several years ago when they carried some Lands End stuff the Fiance would stop, and for a year or two they had a small Edwin Watts Golf shop inside it as well.  That didn't last long, but I would at least stop occasionally and browse or take some swings on the simulator. 

 

But you're right, in it's current state I can't see it lasting much longer.  

[StrokerAce]

Such a sad demise.  

I remember reading about when Sears sold mail order houses in their catalog.
They had this HUGE catalog back when I was a kid and I remember digging through that thing when I was at my grandparents house.  It was the size of a phone book.

Proud to say that I have - and still use - many Craftsman tools.  They are very well made.
Without Lands' End and Craftsman there really is no reason... this will be a quick ending.

[PlaidJacket]

I've been expecting this sale for a long time. I'm glad the tools survive. I have many of them.

Just today I read locally a neighboring city is closing their Mall Sears. Our city will be next I bet. It's dead anyway.

[silver & black]

Craftsmen tools have been mediocre for years (not the old stuff) so, they still will be...lol.

[fozcycle]

Sad, very sad indeed.

 

 

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[SCC4380]

It is sad. Craftsman was a good brand. Sears has had a slow and painful demise.

 

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[SuperDave]

Funny, it makes sense. I was in Lowe's 4 days ago and saw some Craftsman tools.

 

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[MDGolfHacker]

Sad to see Sears slowing going under. Loved the earlier craftsman tools as that stood for quality, but as mentioned previously, there new stuff just isn't made the same anymore in terms of quality. I too looked through the Sears catalogs when I was younger and my parents shopped there regularly. They just haven't been competitive in the retail landscape in a long time.

 

MDGolfHacker