Definately agree about quality diff betw. sears and wal-mart on most stuff. Same goes for comparing some target stores vs. wal-mart. Near seymour johnson AFB, there is a wal-mart and a target within 2 miles of each other. The wal-mart is always packed with people, mostly low-income family members, picking up cheap crap. The target right across town has twice the quality at about the same price for walmart's "premium" brands, and they struggle to survive. The target is 10x the quality of the walmart and the price is almost the same, but the sheeple go to the walmart and buy crap.
Sears Craftsman story:
My grandfather bought some craftsman screwdrivers about 30 years ago, and broke one using it as a crowbar to mount a tire. Yes, he mounts his own tires using a screwdriver. Anyhow, he liked that screwdriver so he went into Sears looking to buy a replacement. The salesguy noticed him walking around with a busted screwdriver looking for a single screwdriver to buy instead of the multi-pack, and he said that Sears would give him a free screwdriver. My grandfather, being too honest for his own good (grew up during depression, etc) told the whole story, about how he didnt' think the warranty counted because he was using a screwdriver as a crowbar. The salesguy said it didn't matter, and gave him a new screwdriver for free and said thank you for shopping at sears.
That's cool. I don't buy much at sears, but when I'm looking for tools and there's a sears in the town I'm living in, I go to sears first.
Return a few things at walmart, and they put you on a list of people who can't return things anymore. That's to catch abusers of the return rules but it's also a sign of the quality of the stuff they sell and their targeted set of customers.
