July 11, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, Gene Howe said: The closest Sears to us is over 100 miles away. Ours too. Somewhere south of the border, since all of ours closed up shop a year or so back. John
July 11, 20187 yr 3 minutes ago, HARO50 said: Ours too. Somewhere south of the border, since all of ours closed up shop a year or so back. John Just curious John, were yours actual Sears or Sears-Simpson? No particular reason other than I want to give the illusion I have knowledge.
July 11, 20187 yr 4 hours ago, Gene Howe said: The closest Sears to us is over 100 miles away. Dunno if it's still open. Same distance for Target. Don't buy much from our Walmart. There is a JC Penny within 30 miles. My wife does a bit of shopping there. My only purchase there is underwear. Amazon is my go to for almost all purchases. Even bought some underwear there recently. Buying through Amazon is so convenient and, considering gas prices, somewhat less expensive. But if Ace has what I need, they will always be my first choice for hardware, some tools and cleaning supplies. Then, there's always HF. Go Harbor Freight!!!! Herb
July 11, 20187 yr 17 minutes ago, Dadio said: Go Harbor Freight!!!! Herb Glad to see your posting again Herb...I was worried maybe one of those whales you posted about had up ended the boat and you were doing a Jonah or something. Ditto on the Herber, 'er Harbor Freight!
July 11, 20187 yr I signed onto the forum the other day and thought I had pay-fer-view, so signed off again. Herb Edited July 11, 20187 yr by Dadio
July 11, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, Grandpadave52 said: Just curious John, were yours actual Sears or Sears-Simpson? No particular reason other than I want to give the illusion I have knowledge. You definitely have some knowledge there, Dave! I believe all Canadian stores were Simpson-Sears. The products carried, however, were virtually identical to what was sold south of the border. John
July 11, 20187 yr 1 minute ago, HARO50 said: You definitely have some knowledge there, Dave! I believe all Canadian stores were Simpson-Sears. The products carried, however, were virtually identical to what was sold south of the border. John Must have been some trade requirement for Sears to operate in Canada...never understood it, but it seems to go back a good ways. Well that was my knowledge nugget for today...will have to reload with one for tomorrow...very taxing working like this.
July 11, 20187 yr My jointer is a Craftsman made by Simpson. Don't think it's Canadian, though. But, who knows?
July 11, 20187 yr I worked for A.G. Simpson, but we never made any tools. Bumpers, bathtubs, truck roofs, but no tools. John
July 11, 20187 yr 54 minutes ago, Gene Howe said: My jointer is a Craftsman made by Simpson. Don't think it's Canadian, though. But, who knows? When at the end of a run does it go "eh?" If so probably Canadian; if not, probably made by Homer.
July 11, 20187 yr 2 hours ago, Gene Howe said: My jointer is a Craftsman made by Simpson. Don't think it's Canadian, though. But, who knows? Is that the one you are giving away? Herb
July 11, 20187 yr 17 minutes ago, Dadio said: Is that the one you are giving away? Herb Yep. Haven't needed it for a long time. It's taking up space.
July 12, 20187 yr We have an independent Sears nearby but they are having a closing sale right now. Since I live next to the New Hampshire border, and NH has no sales tax, lots of stores have located just across the Massachusetts border. HD, Lowes, about a mile away, Woodcraft store 20 miles, Super Walmart about 2 miles, Harbor Freight not so near, at about 30 miles. Seems that most of the licence plates in the parking lots have MA plates, avoiding the 6 1/2% MA sales tax.
July 12, 20187 yr 23 hours ago, HandyDan said: In my area Sears is a thing of the past. Gone forever I suppose. I am sad to see it happen. I will soon be left with Walmart and Target as options for a department store since it appears JC Penny is next. Penny has been on the way out for years. I remember when you could walk into a J C Penny store and buy not only clothing, but electronics, hardware, automotive, sporting good (including firearms), appliances, bedding... They changed their business model and morphed into clothing, bedding, and home soft-goods, like curtains, and jewelry. Their quality steadily went into the toilet. I stopped patronizing Penny after I bought several Van Heusen and Pierre Cardin long sleeved dress shirts. When I got home and went to wear them the cuffs on the sleeves fell anywhere between three inches ABOVE my wrist to just a couple of inches below my elbows. All made off-shore with absolutely NO quality control. A couple of years ago they attempted to gain a market share by reintroducing appliances...apparently a total failure. Both Penny and Sears are on their way out at the nearest Mall. I have been waiting to hear the announcement that they have been placed on the store closing hit list(s). Am I sad to see Sears and Penny go...well, yes and no! I'm sad that the old Sears and Penny are long gone, but not sad that the shadows of what they now are, will soon be gone.
July 12, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, schnewj said: I remember when you could walk into a J C Penny store and buy not only clothing, but electronics, hardware, automotive, sporting good (including firearms), appliances, bedding... Me too Bill...I worked in the store room/shipping/receiving/packaging/picking/floor stocking/price labeling etc. part-time at our local J.C. Penny's during my Junior & Senior years of High School. They were one of the anchor stores (Montgomery-Wards being the other) of our old in-door mall that seemingly every county seat starting building in the mid 1960's to 70's. Penny's had moved from their long term downtown location. I made slightly above minimum wage at the time (a whopping $1.70/hour), but I really did enjoy the job and experience. It was my first actual job not working for my dad in his business (which I continued to do at the time), or being a part-time farm hand and my lawn mowing business. We actually had a pretty fair size store for a county just under 30k at that time....hardware section included typical hardware items, plus paint, a full line of tools, L&G equipment...the works. The store also had a large catalog order/pick-up area too. There were plenty of seasonal items also. At Christmas time, we (store-room folks) set-up a dedicated area for Christmas trees (mainly the old aluminum foil type with the revolving read, blue green. yellow light stand), lights, ornaments and naturally all the new toys for that year. I seemed to get-reassigned to the catalog area store-room during big seasonal sales particularly Christmas doing the picking, carry-out, loading etc. for the customers. (even received tips on occasion; learned a life lesson not to humbly refuse to accept tips from well-meaning folks who wanted to be generous especially at Christmas). When we were really short handed or the lines became excessively long, the managers asked me to help at the catalog pick-up counter and ringing up sales. I even was asked to do gift wrapping quite frequently which I became pretty proficient at doing. Our location also had a J.C. Penny Automotive Center...separate building and all. It was full-service oil/filters, tires, exhaust, brakes, tune-ups, accessories etc. About 1x/quarter, I would get an extra assignment to the store-room there to clean-up, reorganize etc. It typically was on a Saturday &/or Sunday...usually received time & half pay since it was beyond my scheduled work hours; we often rented a van and transferred items from there to an off-site location Penny's leased. I must have done OK, because the Store Manager sat down with me a couple times and asked me to consider staying on after I graduated and even suggested I had a future with the company. Retail sales & marketing just wasn't my thing...when I told him my passion was cars and engines and that's what I intended to pursue, he thought I should consider a career within their Automotive Service Centers...glad I went a different path...the Auto Center was the first thing to close long before the retail center closed. Thanks Bill...you brought back some good memories I had forgotten mis-placed. Edited July 12, 20187 yr by Grandpadave52
July 12, 20187 yr Here is a scary thought....the same factory making Craftsman tools....also making Kobalt tools......just a different paint job?
July 12, 20187 yr 1 minute ago, steven newman said: Here is a scary thought....the same factory making Craftsman tools....also making Kobalt tools......just a different paint job? I think you might be well surprised to learn, that, most of the tools, of the various brands, are made in the same factories. The same assembly lines may make Klein tools one week, reconfigure and run Craftsman tools the next week, then Kobalt, etc. The real differences are that better materials and QC inspections may accompany the Klein production, and not so much on the lower end lines.
July 12, 20187 yr I run a commercial shop so our tools get a workout. I agree Makita is a good brand but you have to watch out for the bottom of the line stuff commonly sold by the big box stores. It isn't as good. Crpsman is now all Chinese. It isn't that the Chinese can't build good stuff. It's that the consumer will buy the cheap crap. I started buying a lot of tools in the early 70's and Crpsman tools weren't any good at that time. They were meant for the guy that might use them once a month. I put my early tools to work making toys. The Crpsman tools failed at that simple task. My new Delta bandsaw wasn't much better at the time. There are still nigh quality tools made, but you have to pay for them. Go to the IWF show in Atlanta, 8/22-25/18. You can compare lots of tools, good & bad. See you there.
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