Posts
5748
Joined
12/7/2009
Location
Long Beach, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
6/6/2018 5:17pm
Sears
The only thing I ever bought there was work boots and tools. Stopped doing that 25 years ago when their Diehard boots turned to shit. I also noticed that Craftsman ratchets were also inferior. Still have lots of sockets and end wrenches though.
The only thing I ever bought there was work boots and tools. Stopped doing that 25 years ago when their Diehard boots turned to shit. I also noticed that Craftsman ratchets were also inferior. Still have lots of sockets and end wrenches though.
I quit buying Craftsman When a associate in the tool Dept wouldn't replace a Torque Wrench!
I even had the sales receipt that stated it had a Life time warranty.
The Shop
Not that any of that matters because our last Sears in town closed last Fall. Never thought I'd see a time when there was no Sears and no K-Mart.
They never changed with the times, and everybody passed them up. However, if you still go to their headquarters "Hoffman Estates, IL"....they still act like they are in their hay day. What a campus they have out there.
^This right here. I worked at a Kmart for 5 years during high school and college. The store had been there as long as I can remember. It looked exactly the same the first time my mom brought me there when I was a kid, the first day I showed up for work, the day I quit, and the day the store closed a year or so ago.
There was no attempt to adapt with people's changing wants, needs, or desires in the retail marketplace. Quite sad for all those who depended on them for income.
Anyways, the absolute best/most used tool is my Snap-on 1/4" swivel head ratchet..Looks like this:
But honestly I think you'll be SOL.
Some of the people they interviewed had been working at this one particular store since it opened or were still students and they were now all in their mid 60's. You could tell some were sad it was closing down.
I just remember the X-Mas Wishbooks as a kid.
Trust me, a lot of Ace dealers are jettisoning the Craftsman stuff, I'm thinking of doing it as well, but we made a pretty big commitment when the Ace/Craftsman launched.
Craftsman made in USA. Some of these are 50 to 60 years old and still doing the job today. Actually the grinder is Black and Decker.
About a year ago I went to Sears on a Sat to get a shaft coupler for the Kenmore washer. Parts dept is gone ? They had 4 guys in polo shirts trying to sell new appliances but no parts. Guy tells me i can order it on line and have it Monday. Luckily we got one local appliance store left. Owner told me he has a bunch of new business from the local Sears appliance service techs.
To bad. Sears was awsome in the day. I think they had a great model, good products. Stocked parts, and provided a service and repair network for their stuff.
Pit Row
My moneys worth. But will be replacing with HF tools as they are good as any these days and they have great warranties.
I worked for Sears 20 years ago and I am shocked they made it this long.
They were amazon of their day.
I have fond memories of time spent in the main sears store in dallas texas. It was across the street from their distribution warehouse so mom would go to the catalog area and order stuff and they would process the order and see if it was in stock in the warehouse. If it was they would send it over and you could go home with it. Would usually take 30 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile my brother and I would go exploring. If I remember right it was a 5 or 6 story building and we would ride the escalators all the way up and then back down.
They had a drink machine that would drop a glass, fill it with ice, and then soda.
If we behaved ourselves we got a drink when we left.
I hope kids today get the sense of awe about stuff that my 6 year old self got watching that thing fix my orange soda without spilling a drop.
Dad always bought his tools there. He got me a Craftsman tool box with wrench and socket sets for High School graduation. Those were my tools I took to the races with me. He was probably tired of me using his stuff
(I first thought they came with free patches but that was another brand)
Of course, we never actually got any of those marked items. We were poor as hell. But, it was awful fun to dream big and that catalog had everything you could imagine in it.
It was like doing a Google search for "cool" and "fun" now
It was a rite of passage to move from it to the tool catalog
http://www.wishbookweb.com/the-catalogs/
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