[Deane Johnson]

craftsman tools was bought out by stanley earlier this year. i wonder if they will keep the name or use the dewalt name.

I'd forgotten about that. That doesn't leave much of Sears still alive.

 

[DennyM]

Well my friends I have said this before. The only constant in the universe is change and this proves it. I grew up with five & dime stores. I'm sure some of you younger guys are saying, 'A what?'. When I first started riding public transportation the fair was $.12. Now it's three or four dollars. Bus drivers could make change. Now you have to have exact change. I had to carry change for a payphone. Now people have cellphones glued to their ear or in their face texting. There are words like texting and hashtag. It was a pound sign at one time. The world is different.

 

[rrbill]

I can remember in the late forties when the downtown Penney's building was constructed. They used a ton of bricks in that two story building!
By the way, it's Penney's, with two "e"s, after the founder, James Cash Penney, Jr. He lived until 1971, not that long ago to some of us.
We still have a Radio Shack about twenty minutes away. The manager's a nice guy who is knowledgeable and helpful. I don't know of another local source for small electronic bits. I can remember the Tandy Leather store in the fifties, where you could buy those wallet kits that you could turn into useful, but ugly wallets. If you had ten dollars in it at one time, you were a modestly wealthy kid back then.
Ah, the days, the days!

 

[DennyM]

I can remember in the late forties when the downtown Penney's building was constructed. They used a ton of bricks in that two story building!
By the way, it's Penney's, with two "e"s, after the founder, James Cash Penney, Jr. He lived until 1971, not that long ago to some of us.
We still have a Radio Shack about twenty minutes away. The manager's a nice guy who is knowledgeable and helpful. I don't know of another local source for small electronic bits. I can remember the Tandy Leather store in the fifties, where you could buy those wallet kits that you could turn into useful, but ugly wallets. If you had ten dollars in it at one time, you were a modestly wealthy kid back then.
Ah, the days, the days!

I remember when Carson's was Carson Pirie Scott. I worked at the original store downtown Chicago as a stockman. I also remember my dad going to a outlet store on 35th street. I don't remember is it was Sears or Wieboldt's, but I do remember the smell of fresh roasted cashews when we walked into the store.

The Radio Shack here you have to know what your looking for when you walk in. If you ask anybody about what you need then you get to watch their head pop off and roll around the floor. They are nice guys though.

 

[BrokeCurmudgeon]

I can remember in the late forties when the downtown Penney's building was constructed. They used a ton of bricks in that two story building!
By the way, it's Penney's, with two "e"s, after the founder, James Cash Penney, Jr. He lived until 1971, not that long ago to some of us.

Speaking of Penneys: Way back in my cowboy days while I was working on a ranch in Wyoming, and on the occasional times I got to go to town I would shop at the very original mother store JC Penneys in Kemmerer WY. Those were the days.
It is sad to see these old establishments go the way of the past.

 

[balidas]

The Outlaw Josie Wales is one of my all time favorite Eastwood movies.

Balidas, I have a tendency to speak my mind especially on the job.

Same here, especially when it concerns employee safety which translates into my safety. I've lost a few jobs because I don't grin & bear it.

Someday there will be a definitive book written about the Pirates that stole Sears then looted and squeezed it dry of all it's life's blood.

Sounds like what happened with Pan Am. Some exec's started selling assets to their cronies for pennies on the dollar.

I bought my first set of tools at Sears. I liked the fact they would replace your tools no matter what happened to them.

Me too until I went to replace a rachet that stopped working. It was after K Mart bought them out & the clerk would only give me a "refurbished" rachet & not even the same style. When I complained I was told "Take it or not."

craftsman tools was bought out by stanley earlier this year. i wonder if they will keep the name or use the dewalt name.

I did not know that.

 

[Wood]

Stanley has retained the name "Craftsman" and they are available in Ace hardware stores. The lifetime guarantee stands and no questions asked in my local store.

 

[rrbill]

In about the 1970's, I bought one of Sears' heavily advertised "Type 1" corded electric drills.
All these years later, it still works well, albeit a bit more noisily. It doesn't have a task light, doesn't tell the time and doesn't take your picture; but it does what it was intended to and will probably outlast me. Craftsman tools were fine quality tools back in the day.

 

[BobS]

As each of my three sons was born, I started them out by purchasing them Craftsman tools. This was when Sears still had a catalog that arrived periodically in the mail. Every February/March was Craftsman tool month sale/ This is when I would purchase the tools for my sons. Sockets, ratchets, wrenches of all kinds, even metric stuff. Hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, you name it. If it was a Craftsman hand tool, I probably bought it, or three of it. I don't think my kids even know what most of the tools are for, but they own them.

Sometimes they will tell me of a problem, and I'll say "you have a tool for that", and then explain what it is, what it looks like, and how to use it. I admit, I was remiss in teaching them about tools and fixing things. I figured that they would all have my curiosity and ability to do things more on their own. Don't get me wrong, they all can and do things that require the use of tools, but, I think, somehow, the means to fix common things has disappeared from society, on the whole.

 

[njrailer93]

Stanley has retained the name "Craftsman" and they are available in Ace hardware stores. The lifetime guarantee stands and no questions asked in my local store.

But are they still made in America or is it still over seas

 

[BigAl56]

Everything is made in China and is crap. Bought a 'Craftsman' snow blower about 12 years ago and it said 'assembled in China' on the box. That snowblower lasted 3 winters before it fell apart.
The hedge fund guy that ruined the company slowly and methodically dismantled the company and it's brands. The Craftsman name that Stanley purchased is a shadow of itself and worth pennies on the dollar to what it may have been worth 10 years ago.

Was a time before they put the name Kenmore, craftsman, or 'Sears Best' on anything it had to go through a thorough Sears vetting by the company inspector checkers. After all, it said 'satisfaction or your money back' over the door. I'll bet all those product checkers have long since been laid off. These days I have no confidence in anything sears is of quality.

 

[balidas]

After all, it said 'satisfaction or your money back"

When I started working at Sears there were mimeographed copies on all the walls with the slogan "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back". Shortly after K Mart took over that slogan & mimeographed sheets changed to "Satisfaction garaunteed". It was around that time that we started losing our performance bonuses.

I actually asked someone if this was one of the signs of the apocalypse.