Posted on 04/05/2019 10:37:34 AM PDT by Red Badger
Key Points
Sears will open three “Sears Home & Life” stores in May, in Anchorage, Alaska; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Overland Park, Kansas.
That’s after the department store chain has shut hundreds of Sears and Kmart locations over the years and filed for bankruptcy protection in October.
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Sears is opening stores again.
The embattled department store chain, which has shut hundreds of Sears and Kmart locations over the years and recently got another shot at life after filing for bankruptcy protection in October, still sees a chance to be a shopping destination for hard-line goods like appliances, tools and mattresses.
Sears announced this week it will open three “Sears Home & Life” stores in May, in Anchorage, Alaska; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Overland Park, Kansas.
These shops will be smaller in size — spanning only up to 15,000 square feet, while the average Sears store can be larger than 100,000 square feet.
“We are here to serve these communities and this is part of our strategy to maintain a presence in markets where we have right-sized our footprint,” Peter Boutros, chief brand officer for Sears and Kmart, said in a statement. “Sears Home & Life supports our strategic plan to become a stronger, more profitable business and these test stores will enable us to learn and improve as we move forward.”
They won’t include apparel, something other department store chains are increasingly struggling with selling today. And clothing hasn’t ever been much of a draw for shoppers to Sears locations, though the retailer tried to make a push into that category in the 1990s. That’s when it debuted a marketing campaign called “The Softer Side of Sears” in an attempt to reach more women with button-down tops and dresses.
Sears also said it will be expanding its DieHard automotive brand into new categories, including lawn and garden equipment, to put in the Home & Life shops.
It will additionally be working more closely with Amazon, Sears said, to make more products from the Kenmore appliance brand available on Amazon Dash’s reorder platform. Sears partnered with Amazon in the summer of 2017 to sell Alexa-enabled appliances, and later to offer full-service tire installation for orders from all tire brands on Amazon.
After filing for bankruptcy, Sears is now referred to as “Transform Holdco,” until it announces a new name for the company, and it has 220 Sears and 205 Kmart stores remaining open. Eddie Lampert no longer holds the CEO role but has remained on as chairman, after his $5.2 billion deal to save Sears using his hedge fund, ESL Investments, was approved.
Earlier this year, Lampert said he thought Sears could one day be a public company again. As the company emerged from bankruptcy protection, he said he wanted to focus on smaller-format locations and the company’s “Shop Your Way” loyalty program. It remains to be seen if his efforts will prove successful.
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Correction: Sears said it will be expanding its DieHard automotive brand into new categories. An earlier version mischaracterized the brand.
Stanley has owned Craftsman since March 2017.
And "Made in China", with a very few examples "Made in Taiwan".
If I want that, I'll go to Harbor Freight. Same factory, lower price.
I’ve got a lot of Craftsman stuff from the late 60s.
They will be in use long after I’m gone.
Very robust tools back then at consumer pricing...IIRC they were made by Danaher Corp.
Why bother. If you go to there website and try to buy something then you will find that pretty much everything is out of stock.
You would be surprised what you can find in the way of replacement batteries for Craftsman online from other retailers. If you are willing to go Generic then the price is much cheaper.
“Maybe I’ll pay more attention to farm auctions and estate sales...”
If you can find them check out SnapOn. I have a set of screwdrivers and box wrenches I bought when I was 17. I’m pushing 60 now and am still using them.
Not cheap, even secondhand, but worth it. Lifetime replacement, no questions asked, too. You just have to find a local dealer, which can be tough.
L
Just go to a car dealership and ask one of the mechanics when the snap-on guy comes by. Once a week, every week...
Kobalt stuff has done well by me.
I too like shopping old farm auctions. I’ve found a lot of good tools there. If I have no alternative but to buy new and it will be chinese made crap anyway I might as well get closer to the chinese price and cut out a couple middlemen and shop at China Freight.
Mixed success with Harbor Freight stuff.
Some of the ratchets and impact sockets have stood up a lot hard use.
I buy moving blankets a lot from there. Sometimes they were free.
Power tools, not so much.
Craftsman may not be quite as good as they were 50 years ago, when I bought my first ones, but they are still pretty good. Back in those days, if it wasn’t Snap On, Mac or Craftsman, it was usually junk. There were a few smaller companies that produced pretty good lines, such as SK, Williams, Proto, etc, but those weren’t nearly as common. Recently, Harbor Freight has marketed some pretty good tools for the money. Their Pittsburg line of impact sockets has especially impressed me. Some tools that Harbor sells, though are still junk. I stay away from their pipe wrenches, slip joint pliers, and such...
Actually a candy and nut counter might help Sears at this point.
Because it would be different.
And don’t forget harbor freight has the same warranty Craftsman had for thier hand tools. If it breaks they give you another.
I thought maybe they would create their own bitcoin.
They could have been Amazon......................
I always like their women’s clothes but whatever works.
Sears should bring back craftsman with its guarantee. And McDonald’s should start using beef tallow again. I tell you both places would thrive.
They could have been Amazon......................
Yup...a hundred years of direct mail order sales, the five star model for the world...the best poised to make the leap to web sales...destroyed by myopic mba bean counters
For over five years my Wife managed one of the last, remaining, Sears Home Appliance Outlets in Georgia. It was a rat race, and she was glad when it was over.
Knowing the inner workings of Lampert’s “sears”, she doesn’t have very high hopes for this new venture, and vows that she’ll never go back there.
Sears sold it Craftsman brand to Black & Decker......................
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