Sears Shares Jump On Report Of Bids For Craftsman Brand

[Charles Spencer]

From the Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sears-stock-jump-1005-biz-20161004-story.html :

"Bloomberg reported Tuesday that potential bidders include Stanley Black & Decker and Hong Kong's Techtronic Industries, with final offers due at the end of the month. People with knowledge of the matter said bids may value Craftsman at about $2 billion, according to the report."

My guess would be the Chinese in one manifestation or the other. There are probably a lot of people who think Craftsman is still what it once was, especially casual tool buyers.

 

[Doubleeboy]

With harbor freight having upped the quality of some of their hand tools I am guessing Craftsman will face tough challenges ahead. I took a Craftsman socket wrench into sears recently for repair, they don't do that anymore in store, they just handed me a new one, what a POS, I went to HF and bought a much better one and the craftsman is now a back up. I worked at Sears in the tool dept as a young man, 45 years ago, what a downward spiral they have been on ever since.

michael

 

[John Hasler]

With harbor freight having upped the quality of some of their hand tools I am guessing Craftsman will face tough challenges ahead. I took a Craftsman socket wrench into sears recently for repair, they don't do that anymore in store, they just handed me a new one, what a POS, I went to HF and bought a much better one and the craftsman is now a back up. I worked at Sears in the tool dept as a young man, 45 years ago, what a downward spiral they have been on ever since.

michael

I took a broken Craftsman shovel in to Sears for replacement some years ago. They refused to replace it, explaining that they no longer sold that exact type of shovel. I pointed out that they stocked similar (but more expensive) shovels that would do the same job, but they still refused. Haven't been back to Sears since.

 

[fretsman]

Sears stopped being sears years ago. Best thing to do is forget they ever existed. Sad but true.

 

[Eddyde]

The last tool I bought at Sears was a pair of Craftsman linesman's pliers. A couple of months later I was using them to cut some 12/2 BX cable, the head snapped at the pivot sending to into my face, splitting my upper lip open. I returned them and was given a hard time but managed to get my money back. Bought a pair of Klein's which I still have. Oh, this happened around 1987.

 

[chips&more]

45 years ago, I can remember drooling all over the power tools as I walked through Sears. Now, you can’t even get me to turn my head as I pass through any part of the tool section…Dave.

 

[4GSR]

I'm sure glad I stocked up on ratchet repair kits way back when they used to sell them for 99 cents each! Haven't needed one yet, but when I do, I can fix it!