SEARS deal spotting
 

Went to SEARS as they had a driver set I wanted on sale at a pretty decent price. While there, I found they have a lot of items dramatically marked down, unadvertised, in store only.

One of the things I almost always buy when they are on sale is their tool bag sets. The Craftsman tool bags aren't really heavy duty like my Nichols or others, but they do a dandy service for the price. I can segment out my tools for storage like my plumbing tools. My door kit tool bag has my 1" spade bit, my 2 1/8" hole saw, a homemade guide, and a 1/2" and 3/4" chisel in it along with a bunch of precut wedges for shims. I have a bag that I keep extra drill bits and drivers in. I have tools separated for my guy's use, "borrowers" if they have a tool break, and then my tools (off limits). I have a roofing bag with pry bars, nails, screws, tin snips, and a couple of tubes of sealant. I have a tool bag with road tools in it for my significant other to stow in her trunk. When I cook away from the house (which is frequent) I have a large bag with a ton of cooking utensils in it. I gave a set to my nephew, and he keeps most of his camping stuff in the big one, and his knife collection and sharpening stuff in the small one.

The 13" and 18" combo set is $8.99 here, and they also have a larger set of two for $15 (1/2 off) that has a bag large enough hold my battery powered recip saw and a big battery.

For all that read the paper, listen to the news, gossip about the decline of America, or even still read this group, we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, or pontificate on the demise of American retail, or reason that they are cheap because the are preparing to collapse all of SEARS.

Duh. It is a subject that has been literally hammered to dust. Not interested.

This is just a "heads up" post on an outstanding deal for tool bags (and some other goodies) based on personal experience. Until I found them this cheap, I never thought of using them for anything but tools. The larger set has a 20" bag that I have even used as an overnight bag.

http://www.sears.com/search=tool%20bag%20combo

They were out of most sizes as this sale started a while back, but the same deals on available online. On top of the savings, they also have an aggressive cash back program as well as other incentives. I spent $118 yesterday (extension cords on sale as well) and when I opened a SEARS account, they have me a monstrous $60 back. (No wonder they are leaving us!)

Regardless of the limbo situation of Craftsman warranty and its application, there are deals to be had if someone wants to take advantage of the opportunity.

Robert

SEARS deal spotting
 

I own the 12" black bag with red trim shown in the link you gave. Its unused in the basement. I've had it for 10+ years I suspect. I've grown accustomed to the empty 5 gallon bucket transportation system for my tools when I need them at my parent's house. The bags might be useful for a very small set of tools used on pretty specialized tasks.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On 17-Nov-17 4:22 PM, wrote:
....

The 13" and 18" combo set is $8.99 here, and they also have a larger
set of two for $15 (1/2 off) that has a bag large enough hold my battery
powered recip saw and a big battery.

Does look like a buy if in need/use 'em...what you think of the slightly
more expensive but larger apparently heavier(?) gray ones there???

....

... we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, ...

I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well. In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

--

SEARS deal spotting
 

On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 9:26:51 AM UTC-6, dpb wrote:

Does look like a buy if in need/use 'em...what you think of the slightly
more expensive but larger apparently heavier(?) gray ones there???


I bit on a couple of sets of those. They are a little bit more heavily built, and the ones I compared in the store have a little bit heavier reinforcement where sewn together. For $7.50 a bag, I couldn't say no. As long as SEARS is with us they are covered by their warranty. To be fair, in the last 12-15 years of buying their bags, I have only had one fail. It was a 12" bag that was well overloaded and one of the seams pulled apart for about about 2", but it was double sewn so it didn't fail completely.

... we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, ....

I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well. In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

Very sad. Like a lot of us, I grew up with SEARS simply being part of the landscape. I never gave it a thought, it was always around. When I started doing more with my contracting business and branched out a bit, I bought Craftsman tools for daily use and found them to be a solid buy. They had all kinds of tools under the Craftsman brand so I could wait until they had a sale on and get what I wanted at a fair price. They sold so many tools at the store I went to that they had "the tool barn", and area that was separated by isle configuration and funneled all the traffic to one way in/out. They did so much business that the tool barn even had its own cash register.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On 11/18/2017 10:48 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 9:26:51 AM UTC-6, dpb wrote:

Does look like a buy if in need/use 'em...what you think of the slightly
more expensive but larger apparently heavier(?) gray ones there???


I bit on a couple of sets of those. They are a little bit more heavily built, and the ones I compared in the store have a little bit heavier reinforcement where sewn together. For $7.50 a bag, I couldn't say no. As long as SEARS is with us they are covered by their warranty. To be fair, in the last 12-15 years of buying their bags, I have only had one fail. It was a 12" bag that was well overloaded and one of the seams pulled apart for about about 2", but it was double sewn so it didn't fail completely.

... we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, ...

I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well. In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

Very sad. Like a lot of us, I grew up with SEARS simply being part of the landscape. I never gave it a thought, it was always around. When I started doing more with my contracting business and branched out a bit, I bought Craftsman tools for daily use and found them to be a solid buy. They had all kinds of tools under the Craftsman brand so I could wait until they had a sale on and get what I wanted at a fair price. They sold so many tools at the store I went to that they had "the tool barn", and area that was separated by isle configuration and funneled all the traffic to one way in/out. They did so much business that the tool barn even had its own cash register.

It was sad when I was there a couple of days ago. VERY few tools, almost no consumables (router bits, saw blades, etc.) and in some cases the tool displays were empty. Completely empty. That store has been there almost 50 years, and never have I seen it so barren. It's just sad.

Robert


Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.

Steve

SEARS deal spotting
 

On 11/18/2017 10:26 AM, dpb wrote:


I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well.Â* In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

--


Our local appliance dealer only has room for a few brands on the floor.
He belongs to a buying co-op though and can get any brand out there with
better service and price than any of the big box stores.

Example of service. I bought a couple of parts to repair my old washer.
Got into it and saw it was not worth fixing. Went back to the store,
he took the parts back and delivered the new machine 2 hours later.

Freezer broke. The replacement I wanted would take two days to get. He
brought over a loaner and helped transfer all the food. Two days later
brought the new one and helped transfer again. No loss.

All of this and $30 less than the big box stores.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On 18-Nov-17 12:58 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
....

Our local appliance dealer only has room for a few brands on the floor.
He belongs to a buying co-op though and can get any brand out there with
better service and price than any of the big box stores.
....

[story above and beyond elided solely for brevity]...

The service isn't the problem locally; these guys will also do almost
anything (something I do have to say the guy who happens to be a
relatively near neighbor with his place a couple miles north of us
wasn't that great on--I guess that part of Sears rubbed off) to help but
has only what he has available.

For large appliances in particular, "kicking the tires" is key and so
when there's only one or two to choose from without driving 100 miles to
do so it's a major loss...

--

SEARS deal spotting
 

On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 11:09:39 AM UTC-6, shiggins1 wrote:

Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.


I would argue against mail order, or online ordering as you probably mean, killed Sears. I think competition was the main killer. Home Depot, Menards, Lowes in my town carry every tool Craftsman has and many, many more. They also carry every Kenmore appliance, other brands of course. Wal-Mart has all the clothes that Sears has. And furniture is carried by Wal-Mart and I think Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Sears was/is a do it all for everyone store. But now days you have too many competitors selling the same things. All different stores, not one store. But people don't want or need one store to do everything. Wal-Mart combining a grocery store and general merchandise store is a great concept. But that is a bit different than Sears. K-Mart does have grocery and general stuff in its stores. But K-Mart is basically dead.

Sears was started back in about 1900 when ONE store selling everything, except groceries, made sense. But does it make sense today to have ONE store selling tools, lawn mowers, refrigerators, clothes, wedding rings, watches, jewelry? And today with Wal-Mart you have one store selling most general stuff PLUS groceries. That does make sense. Leave out the specialty stuff for others to sell. Just sell the main stuff everyone needs frequently.

SEARS deal spotting
 

" wrote:

But does it make sense today to have ONE store selling tools, lawn mowers,
refrigerators, clothes, wedding rings, watches, jewelry?

Amazon seems to think it makes pretty good $ense.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 22:28:04 +0000, Spalted Walt
wrote:

" wrote:

But does it make sense today to have ONE store selling tools, lawn mowers,
refrigerators, clothes, wedding rings, watches, jewelry?

Amazon seems to think it makes pretty good $ense.

And it did for a long while but now it's reaching a point that
single-unit shipping can drive the price above what a local physical
store charges. Now Amazon is moving away from their roots and into
the brick-and-mortar space--they may succeed but I suspect it will
prove to be a blunder.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 11:09:33 -0600, shiggins1
wrote:

On 11/18/2017 10:48 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 9:26:51 AM UTC-6, dpb wrote:

Does look like a buy if in need/use 'em...what you think of the slightly
more expensive but larger apparently heavier(?) gray ones there???


I bit on a couple of sets of those. They are a little bit more heavily built, and the ones I compared in the store have a little bit heavier reinforcement where sewn together. For $7.50 a bag, I couldn't say no. As long as SEARS is with us they are covered by their warranty. To be fair, in the last 12-15 years of buying their bags, I have only had one fail. It was a 12" bag that was well overloaded and one of the seams pulled apart for about about 2", but it was double sewn so it didn't fail completely.

... we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, ...

I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well. In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

Very sad. Like a lot of us, I grew up with SEARS simply being part of the landscape. I never gave it a thought, it was always around. When I started doing more with my contracting business and branched out a bit, I bought Craftsman tools for daily use and found them to be a solid buy. They had all kinds of tools under the Craftsman brand so I could wait until they had a sale on and get what I wanted at a fair price. They sold so many tools at the store I went to that they had "the tool barn", and area that was separated by isle configuration and funneled all the traffic to one way in/out. They did so much business that the tool barn even had its own cash register.

It was sad when I was there a couple of days ago. VERY few tools, almost no consumables (router bits, saw blades, etc.) and in some cases the tool displays were empty. Completely empty. That store has been there almost 50 years, and never have I seen it so barren. It's just sad.

Robert


Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.

No, Sears killed Sears. It's been a miserable place to shop for at
least thirty years.

SEARS deal spotting
 

On 11/18/2017 8:08 PM, wrote:




Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.

No, Sears killed Sears. It's been a miserable place to shop for at
least thirty years.


Absolutely. First was their marketing strategy. Sales prices wee good
but the everyday price was higher than the other discount stores that
came along. Back around 1975 to 1990s or so there were probably a dozen
stores that came and went, many killed by Wal Mart.

Sears used to have a good catalog order and local pickup. One year we
got the Christmas catalog and ordered a bunch of stuff, many sale items.
I went to pick it up a couple of days later and they were out of
everything but one $4 item. That was about 40 years ago and the last
time I ordered from Sears.

Fast forward a few decades. Amazon has never been out of an item I
ordered, is usually one of the best prices. Couple of clicks and it is
in my mailbox 2 days later.

SEARS deal spotting
 

Sears sold real Machine lathes and mills and shapers.
They sold houses also. The house would come in pre-cut sections
and delivered to the site it was to be put on. Lots of homesteads
went from mud/log to milled lumber houses from Sears. Some of the
houses were 2 stories. 50 years ago you could go to the warehouses
in South Dallas and anything Sears sold U.S.A. was there. Even several
of the houses built as models. They used them as specialized sells
locations. Went with my father-in-law one day and was in wonder.

Martin

On 11/18/2017 3:20 PM, wrote:
On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 11:09:39 AM UTC-6, shiggins1 wrote:

Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.


I would argue against mail order, or online ordering as you probably mean, killed Sears. I think competition was the main killer. Home Depot, Menards, Lowes in my town carry every tool Craftsman has and many, many more. They also carry every Kenmore appliance, other brands of course. Wal-Mart has all the clothes that Sears has. And furniture is carried by Wal-Mart and I think Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Sears was/is a do it all for everyone store. But now days you have too many competitors selling the same things. All different stores, not one store. But people don't want or need one store to do everything. Wal-Mart combining a grocery store and general merchandise store is a great concept. But that is a bit different than Sears. K-Mart does have grocery and general stuff in its stores. But K-Mart is basically dead.

Sears was started back in about 1900 when ONE store selling everything, except groceries, made sense. But does it make sense today to have ONE store selling tools, lawn mowers, refrigerators, clothes, wedding rings, watches, jewelry? And today with Wal-Mart you have one store selling most general stuff PLUS groceries. That does make sense. Leave out the specialty stuff for others to sell. Just sell the main stuff everyone needs frequently.

SEARS deal spotting
 

shiggins1 wrote:
On 11/18/2017 10:48 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 9:26:51 AM UTC-6, dpb wrote:

Does look like a buy if in need/use 'em...what you think of the slightly
more expensive but larger apparently heavier(?) gray ones there???


I bit on a couple of sets of those. They are a little bit more heavily
built, and the ones I compared in the store have a little bit heavier
reinforcement where sewn together. For $7.50 a bag, I couldn't say no.
As long as SEARS is with us they are covered by their warranty. To be
fair, in the last 12-15 years of buying their bags, I have only had one
fail. It was a 12" bag that was well overloaded and one of the seams
pulled apart for about about 2", but it was double sewn so it didn't fail completely.

... we ALL KNOW SEARS IS GOING AWAY. No need to inform me, lecture me, ...

I just noticed yesterday the catalog store here has now closed
entirely...they were franchise operations, of course, not "Sears proper"
stores, but took down a local entrepreneur with them as well. In such a
small market as this, that is a noticeable loss; there's now only one
appliance retailer of any note at all left in town who doesn't have many
of the brands available through Sears for the choice...

Very sad. Like a lot of us, I grew up with SEARS simply being part of
the landscape. I never gave it a thought, it was always around. When I
started doing more with my contracting business and branched out a bit,
I bought Craftsman tools for daily use and found them to be a solid buy.
They had all kinds of tools under the Craftsman brand so I could wait
until they had a sale on and get what I wanted at a fair price. They
sold so many tools at the store I went to that they had "the tool barn",
and area that was separated by isle configuration and funneled all the
traffic to one way in/out. They did so much business that the tool barn
even had its own cash register.

It was sad when I was there a couple of days ago. VERY few tools, almost
no consumables (router bits, saw blades, etc.) and in some cases the
tool displays were empty. Completely empty. That store has been there
almost 50 years, and never have I seen it so barren. It's just sad.

Robert


Isn't it ironic that competition from mail order is what killed them, as
they invented it.

Steve


No, sears down fall began with eliminating the popcorn. :-)

SEARS deal spotting
 

On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 08:31:15 -0600, Leon wrote:

No, sears down fall began with eliminating the popcorn. :-)

I have memories of the Sears in Golf Mill, in the center of the store
was the yummy counter. The warm roasted cashews smell permeated store,
you could smell as soon as you walked in the store, loosing that and
the popcorn yep that shoot em down. It was a long and tortured end
though.

Karmel Korn was just to the right as you left the south entrance of
Sears was the other assault to the pocket book through the nostrils.