I stopped at a local Sears store -- first time in a long time. I found that "Craftsman" was now being applied to essentially multiple lines of product. Top tier "Craftsman" wrenches were still made in the U.S.A. and appeared to have good quality. But there were... IIRC, two "lesser", yet "Craftsman" marked lines. At least one of these was marked Made in China and had the typical hallmarks of inexpensive Chinese manufacture. Nor did the non-U.S.-made tools carry the legendary Craftsman guarantee/warranty.
This past year, I was in an Ace hardware store and noticed on sale a "Craftsman" auto-battery-powered tire pump. "Wait, I'm in... an Ace?", I thought to myself.
It's become apparent to me (my vaguely informed opinion) that Sears has been... well, maybe "diluting" has too specific and different a meaning, in the context of trademarks. But, they've been de facto weakening the "Craftsman" trademark and reputation at least in recent years.
OT, but another Sears "brand" story. I heard by chance encounter this past year from some retired out former Sears managers, that recent sales incentive changes at Sears have actually dis-incentive-ised (?) their salespeople from moving Sears appliances (the Kenmore brand, that has in general long had a strong reputation for good quality/value metrics). Essentially, the commissions on other brands (Samsung, LG, whomever) have been set higher. The Sears salesperson earns more by selling you one of these, instead.
From what I heard from them, this was part of a reorganization that made internal units in Sears competitive with each other rather than cooperative. Essentially, these different elements within Sears were set against each other, to quit significant destructive effect with respect to the organization as a whole.
Yeah, that's a good point. I'd forgotten about it, since I haven't been in a Sears store in a while. Interestingly enough though, for the past, oh, say, 20 years or so, I'd say the only reason I've ever gone in a Sears store was to buy Craftsman tools.
Now he's using his hedge fund to buy up debt.
Suspect he gives zero fucks. Run it like a gladiators arena, let it rip itself apart, privately own all the debt to be first in line of creditors when it implodes.
#winning
Granted, they say they'll still sell the Craftsman brand, but this still seems very short-sighted (along with selling, or trying to sell, the Kenmore and Diehard brands).
Closing stores makes sense, as less purchasing is done at meatspace retail stores. But I'd think you would want to double down on your strong brands, not get rid of them.