Here's Why You Won't Find Craftsman Tools At Home Depot

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

With almost a century of manufacturing under its belt, Craftsman is one of the older names in the consumer tool game. And for the bulk of the past 100 years, Craftsman served as the in-house tool option for Sears. But when that iconic retail faction hit financial hard times, the Craftsman brand was offloaded to Stanley Black & Decker, taking its place among the dozen other brands owned by that tool conglomerate.

Given that Sears is no longer the home of the Craftsman name, you might be wondering where tools from the legendary brand are being sold these days. You can, of course, find that out by utilizing the Find a Retailer function on the Craftsman website. If you do use the feature, you're likely to find that major retail outlets like Lowe's and Ace Hardware are among the first options to be presented. Online retail titan Amazon will no doubt present as an option as well, with Craftsman operating its own storefront through that e-commerce site as well. 

You might be a little surprised, however, to find that Home Depot is not listed among the purchase options for Craftsman gear. If you're curious why, the reason is pretty simple: Home Depot isn't an authorized seller of Craftsman gear. It's not entirely clear why that is, but it's safe to assume that the brand's deal with Lowe's is the primary reason, as the retail chains don't share many power tool brands. 

While Home Depot might not sell Craftsman tools, it is worth remembering that the big box home improvement chain sells plenty of brand-name tools that are not currently available through Lowe's. Of course, Home Depot's prized power tool possession is, undoubtedly, Ryobi, which has long held an exclusivity agreement as the brand's brick-and-mortar retailer. While Ryobi tools are also now available to purchase through Walmart's online storefront, they can still only be found in-store at Home Depot. 

Despite that fact, Ryobi is not the only major tool brand that is currently being sold through Home Depot and not through Lowe's. That list includes several of the other notable power tool makers, such as Rigid, and even industry icon Milwaukee Tools. Along with Ryobi, Home Depot also counts Husky as an exclusive brand, with that maker of tools and tool storage chests serving as the retailer's in-house option.

While Home Depot counts a few notable names among its exclusive offerings, Lowe's boasts one impressive in-house brand as well, with the retail outlet claiming ownership over the popular Kobalt tool line. As competitive as the power tool game clearly is among home improvement retailers, there is at least one major brand that plays nice with the market's major players, as DeWalt tools are currently being sold by both Lowe's and The Home Depot.