On 12/28/2011 8:17 AM, Doug Miller wrote:
On 12/28/2011 7:05 AM, bob haller wrote:

sears sold off craftsman tools and most other assets years ago...

Untrue. The holding company that owns Sears and Kmart also owns the
Craftsman trademark.

What actually is happening is that Sears is licensing some of their
brands, including Craftsman, Die-Hard, and Kenmore. This actually hurts
Sears stores because customers that actually believe in those brands can
now buy them at other stores.

thats why craftsman tools are available in all sorts of stores today.

Also untrue.

No, that actually is true.

"The company is allowing other retailers to sell its DieHard, Craftsman
and Kenmore products. Sears has also cut deals with such retailers as
Costco Wholesale Corp. and Ace Hardware to sell Craftsman tools in their
stores."

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LWV4Y40YHQ0X01-57SSRQKTS02BIAE7RSD5V5K2IB

I doubt if Sears can survive. For appliances they're being decimated by
stores like Home Depot which has comparable pricing on appliances, but
much lower prices on extended warranties which people seem to be buying
on appliances with micro-controllers (which is ironic because
micro-controllers were supposed to be more reliable than mechanical
controllers on washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, and
refrigerators). Their tools were never commercial quality, they sold
them based on the lifetime warranty on hand tools. Sears used to sell a
lot of TVs, but now Costco is the place to buy electronics with their
free extended warranty and low prices.