Almost as if they were endorsing our article about What (the Heck) is Going on With Sears? last week, the company announced today that it will be selling Craftsman tools in Costco stores starting as early as this week. Select Craftsman tools will be in all of Costco’s approximately 430 discount stores this year, but we don’t know which tools will be represented. Our guess will be basic mechanics tools as well as some Craftsman 12V Nextec multi-tools, other cordless tools, and possibly outdoor gear (we’ll know more this weekend). The report broke in the Chicago Tribune and continues a definite change in the company that has been occurring since Craftsman tools began to be sold in Ace Hardware stores last year.
So is this bad or good? Well, for Craftsman we’d say it’s decidedly excellent. One of the most exciting things to happen for the brand in a long time, in fact. For Sears, it’s a bit of an admission that the Craftsman brand may be exceeding the company’s ability to drive enough traffic through its stores – which is why there are several rumors floating around that the Craftsman brand is ripe for a spin-off. We can’t see anything bad about spinning off the Craftsman brand or selling it in stores – once you remove that from the Sears equation. In the Tribune article a Sears executive was quoted as saying “It’s an opportunity to bring the equity of this product to households that aren’t going to Sears.” And that’s really the problem: it seems, at least to us, that less and less people are shopping at Sears for tools these days. As long as that perception/reality exists, the Craftsman brand will benefit by integration into as many legitimate retailers as it can get itself into.
What’s your take? Is Craftsman heading for a spin-off from Sears into its own company? Will Sears let it go? Jump into our forums and let us know what you think!
