It Is Your Fault

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

All I want to know is...If/when Sears closes...WHERE IN THE HELL AM I GOING TO BUY MY TOOLS?

[Bill Robertson]

All I want to know is...If/when Sears closes...WHERE IN THE HELL AM I GOING TO BUY MY TOOLS?

Quite a few Craftsman tools are already being sold at Ace. I can see this expanding and/or Craftsman becoming it's own brand if Sears bites the dust.

Back to the OP. It's largely my fault. I would guess 75% or so of everything we buy comes from Walmart. When someone else becomes as convienient a one-stop-shop as Walmart we'll give them a try. Until then my time and money are the most important things to me.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Ace isn't exactly a model of fiscal success these days is it?

I would hope that Craftsman doesn't move there. I'd rather see them crank up their own stores, or go the way of Mac/Snap-On.

No wait...That would suck, I quit buying both of them because 1 - too much money for a hobbyist and 2 - Hard to pin down a dealer when you break a tool...No money in it for them so they don't care.

My guess is that they just start selling at Lowes and/or Home Depot...In which case, I guess that's just one more department of expenditures from my house that will migrate to primarily online purchases.

[BBatesokc]

The one thing I still like about ACE is that they are still (for the most part) a hardware store and still employ people that know what they are doing (like Radio Shack used to be). Every time I've gone in to ACE they could answer my handyman question. I also find they carry items Lowe's and Home Depot do not. Which is a good thing, because often their prices are a bit higher (sort of like shopping Target over WalMart). But, the managers have the ability and often the willingness to drop prices on seasonal items. I bought some huge outdoor ceramic planters at the end of the year that had been $180/ea - marked down to about $100 - when I asked they went ahead and dropped them another 40%. They will often do the same for plants and outdoor furniture/grills.

As for tools, I hit Steve's or Harbor Freight. Not the best quality, but I don't use them on even a monthly basis so I go for function and price.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

The one thing I still like about ACE is that they are still (for the most part) a hardware store and still employee people that know what they are doing (like Radio Shack used to be). Every time I've gone in to ACE they could answer my handyman question. I also find they carry items Lowe's and Home Depot do not. Which is a good thing, because often their prices are a bit higher (sort of like shopping Target over WalMart). But, the managers have the ability and often the willingness to drop prices on seasonal items. I bought some huge outdoor ceramic planters at the end of the year that had been $180/ea - marked down to about $100 - when I asked they went ahead and dropped them another 40%. They will often dog the same for plants and outdoor furniture/grills.

As for tools, I hit Steve's or Harbor Freight. Not the best quality, but I don't use them on even a monthly basis so I go for function and price.

Oh, for sure. I go to Ace whenever I can, for those very reasons. But I frequently back the wrong horse *looks at his shiny and barely used HD DVD player*, and there's no Ace close by my house. I have a TruValue less than a mile away though, and they'll let me run a monthly tab if I want. Heck, I had to buy some pipe a while back, and they didn't have it...The guy told me "we can have it here this afternoon, come down around 3 and pick it up". Yeah...They sent a guy to Allied Steel (I think that's where they got it) just for 16' of pipe. Just for me. From Choctaw. I love that place.