Kmart & Craftsman

**Halon** · 09-29-2005

I've been hearing and reading more and more that Kmart is going to be carrying Craftsman tools. Has anyone been to any Kmarts around here and actually seen this? I'm wondering how large the selection is going to be, pretty small and limited or a large selection. I personally buy a lot of craftsman stuff because of the lifetime warrantee, and it's not as expensive as the stuff on the Snap-on truck that stops at my work every week. I'm sure some die hard mechanics will swear by those other companies and say how crappy Craftsman stuff is, but for me this is just a hobby, not my business, so Craftsman works great for me.

**JET** · 09-29-2005

I haven't had a problem with most craftsman stuff either. Also, I bet K-mart isn't going to give a crap about returns! Unlike Sears who can get crappy sometimes.

LaunchHard · 09-29-2005

Have you guys ever heard of Channel Lock. And if so, do you know if its any good, 'cause at sam's club they're selling a 200 piece set for like $100.

dsm95gsxer · 09-29-2005

From what I've heard k-mart bought out a good portion of sears.

Bode · 09-29-2005

I had heard that K-mart was going to start selling them about a couple of days ago but I have no clue.

TheBlackKnight · 09-30-2005

K-Mart buying out Sears? That's a new one, well I suppose things change. At one time Sears was about to be defunct, and K-mart was at the same spot a little later. Hmphhh.

Jana · 09-30-2005

I had also heard that Kmart was buying Sears out. I thought it seemed odd considering Kmart filed bankruptcy about 3 years ago (3 or 4). So I suppose I could see Kmart selling Craftsman tools.

**Shane@DBPerformance** · 09-30-2005

Maybe they are joining together to form S-Mart. Shop smart, shop S-Mart.

npaulseth · 09-30-2005

K-Mart bought out a lot of sears about 6 months ago. Sears is supose to start carrying the Martha Stewuart line, and K-Mart is supose to get Craftsman and Kenmore.

Outlaw1 · 09-30-2005

I was suprised to even see a Kmart when I came up here. They closed all the stores down in South Texas. Hopefully Kmart buying Sears doesn't mean the start of the end of Craftsman. Some of the Craftsman Professional series stuff is ok. It's still not up to Snap-On, Matco or Mac standards, but neither is the price. I really like being able to drive down to Sears and just swap tools out when they break. It's like pulling teeth to get a Snap-On rep to swap a broken tool...and first you have to find him.

slowbubblecar · 10-01-2005

I thought it was a merger, not one company buying the other out. Kmarts are shuttng down all over, I doubt they are buying a good portion of sears.

As far as tools go, I do not think craftsman is any better than the rest of them. I have broken probly 5 rachets now (3 1/2 drive, 2 3/8 drive). Any good hardware store will warranty their products. Ace Hardware carries a lifetime warranty on all ACE tools also. I cannot speak for the rest of the smaller hardware stores but we do not carry any cheap tools. The last thing you want to do is get your name behind a crappy product. The larger stores carry bigger lines and will stock cheap-crappy tools (Menards for example with their tool shop brand). Sears is a larger company with more of an advertising budget that is why nobody knows about the smaller stores like ACE having the same warrantee. This is John under James' name...

slowbubblecar · 10-01-2005

Oh and as far as snap on, mac and the other high buck tool manufacturers go, they warranty tools in a commercial workplace. Sears only warranties tools for residential use, not commercial. That is why mechanics swear by the better names and hate craftsman.

AJ · 10-01-2005

The Merger happened in late 04, and it was Kmart picking up Sears for 11 billion.

http://stocks.about.com/b/a/126621.htm

So why not sells Craftsmen in Kmart? It's a big seller for Sears and if it can be made available in Kmart and bring in a few different types of customers then it's a good thing.