Lowe’s kicked off their 2024 holiday season a full 8 weeks ago. I visited my local store 2 days ago to see what’s left.
They made this somewhat a challenge, as a lot of the displays had been moved around, and there were a couple of new additions I hadn’t seen before.
Shown above is what I saw at the store’s entrance – Kobalt LED flashlight and worklight, screwdriver bit sets, utility knives, and levels.
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Surprisingly, they have the new EDC flashlight at the same price it’s been selling for since September (see New Kobalt EDC Flashlight at Lowe’s is Packed with Features). Looking online, Lowe’s dropped the price to $19.98.
There were lots of Kobalt tools in various locations, such as these cordless power tool kits and hand tools.
They stocked so many mini tool boxes this year that they didn’t manage to sell them all. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought mine at full price and waited for the Black Friday doorbuster discount.
There were a lot of folding sawhorses.
There were a lot of general purpose hand tool sets still on the sales floor.
And more tucked into side aisles, such as this one with Kobalt utility knives and “exclusive heavy duty shears.”
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Kobalt is a Lowe’s brand. Do they really need to describe Kobalt tools as being an “exclusive?”
I found these Kobalt drilling and driving bit sets in another side aisle.
My store had Skil Flip Drill kits scattered in various locations, including the clearance end cap at the end of one of the tool bays.
There’s a Klein Pro multi-bit screwdriver deal in the middle aisle.
Behind it was a wall of Dewalt wet/dry shop vacuums.
Lowe’s still has a lot of Dewalt power tool accessory sets.
There were more Dewalt cordless inflators still in stock than I would have expected. $119 isn’t a bad price, but Amazon has it for $109 right now.
They also had a Dewalt automotive jack. Dewalt makes jacks now? Then again, that seems more congruent with the brand than abrasive blasting cabinets.
There was a near-full display of Pony Jorgensen parallel clamps.
Nearby, there was another display, also nearly completely full. Parallel clamp deals tend to be highly sought-after, but perhaps not this brand’s.
My store still had a bunch of Craftsman V-Series tools. See also: Craftsman V-Series PRO Tool Deals at Lowe’s are Impossibly Good!
Those in-the-know snatched up all of the wrenches and ratchet sets. The tool sets are also a great buy. I’d say that the V-Series tools sold well, considering that Lowe’s never brought them into their stores before.
I found more Craftsman displays throughout the store. Has that Craftsman torque wrench display been restocked throughout the holiday season, or did they only sell one of them?
Lowe’s website calls it a “bestseller” and says they sold 1k+ last week.
There were more Craftsman deals along the back wall, along with 2 lonely-looking Flex Stack Pack tool box sets.
Lowe’s is advertising “December deal drops,” but this Craftsman cordless combo kit looks to be the same price as it’s been. Last year’s deal was better – $99 plus a free bonus battery.
The Klein ModBox tool storage section was full, and a bit messy. Dewalt took over the “Pro” section at both of the Lowe’s stores I checked. I wonder if Klein ModBox will get a new permanent home within the store.
Lowe’s has a lot of Klein tool displays, but are they deals?
Klein tool bundles tend to be good buys, but maybe Lowe’s was simply over-saturated this year.
Spyder seems to have done well – this is a consolidation from multiple displays, although I don’t get why they pushed it into a low foot traffic area.
Finally, Bosch cordless power tool… deals?
What do things look like at your Lowe’s stores?
fred
If the same quantity of leftover “sales items” is typical for Lowes stores nationwide then it looks like they had a bad Christmas buying season. You have to wonder what their Q4 earnings will look like. I was in my local Lowes on 12/11 and then again on 12/17 to take advantage of two $30-off-$120 (25%) promotions from AMEX. I was mostly in the cleaning supplies aisle – so did not pay attention to the tool displays. Both times the store was not busy – so it was actually nice to breeze through self-checkout (the only option).
Stuart
There’s always a lot of remnant inventory. I always seem to think “there’s way more this year,” but then financial reports come out and it’s usually
“woo, record sales and profits.”
fred
I can believe that.
My partners and i always thanked our lucky stars that we never worked at or produced anything that needed a mass market in order to be profitable. Our plumbing business was the closest thing to having a reliance on a broad base of customers. Our fabrication business. at the other end of the spectrum, mostly produced, or remanufactured items for a narrow client base where our specialized capabilities and things like expected MTBF were more important than sales promotions.
Hon Cho
Perhaps bodes well for good to great clearance deals in the weeks ahead.
In any case, rest assured that the corporate number crunchers will be busy trying to figure out what went right and wrong with buying and promotions. Then, next quarter’s earnings reports will let the world know just what the impact is of their decisions on their revenue and profitability. Following all that the preparations for the 2025 holiday season will be well under way, perhaps incorporating the lessons learned from 2024. Tis the circle of life…
JR Ramos
I don’t go to Lowe’s a whole lot and generally tried to avoid them and HD this whole holiday season, but I did go to two different Lowe’s stores a couple times. The whole toolbox/sawhorse/pouch area at both locations just seemed to be in disarray and without as much space as it needed. The holiday deals were more sold out and picked through at both stores (including the Jorgensen clamps…which were good deals although Great Star sadly did reduce the quality of those just as they did several other products…shame, looked at first like they would maintain the quality and designs).
What I noticed that surprised me is that a significant amount of footage in the main aisle up front was devoted to work clothing. I didn’t look closely but I think it was all Carhartt. Such a high traffic money making location in a store seems like it would be better for all of those special buys and tool deals, or even showcasing some things like Klein Modbox or whatever. But nope…just a lot of hoodies and jackets and caps that nobody was paying attention to and that somewhat bottle necked the free flow of traffic. That was only one store, though…the other had their things laid out more traditionally.
TMQ
All of my local stores blew through all of their clothing. I bought a couple hoodies myself.
James
Im hoping for an after Christmas sale on rolling toolboxes.
Id snap one up
Stuart
Tool box clearances are extremely rare. The Lowe’s stores near me doesn’t discount tool boxes after the holidays, they just stick them near their permanent shelf locations or at various empty spots around the store.
Rzorrok
I like the look of the Klien Mod Boxes, but from what I could tell, they were not on sale at all. It would be cheaper to buy Packout stuff.
Paul
I have to say I was surprised not to see any Channellock sets on promotion this season at either HD or Lowes.
TMQ
pretty sure they had Channel Lock at Home Depot this holiday season
Stuart
Not at any of the stores I visited.
Revitup
So re: the Jorgensen parallel clamps… I think they continue to suffer now from an initial poor rollout. There were some niggly issues with early versions it seems – which turned off many buyers. Maybe they’re up to snuff now, but it just appears that they can’t overcome that. (Even at a cheaper pay-to-play entry fee.) In that “meanwhile” when they were getting things figured out, I suspect a lot of folks just paid the higher price for the Jet or Bessey – i know that’s where I fall.
Could be that the Jorgies (now) are great clamps. Perhaps… but I know for myself that when I’m in a huge glue-up I don’t have time for playing with different clamps. I’m in one brand now, and I need the clamps all to act the same each time I grab one off the rack.
All that said, we haven’t even talked about the fact that it’s now a completely different overseas outfit with the same name. To make a short story into a long boring one… full displays even after weeks of a holiday sale? Just can’t say I’m terribly shocked.
PW
What were the initial rollout problems?
My store has been the same way – the first couple of years of the Jorgensen clamp promo, they sold out _fast_. This year, there was way more stock and they have not seemed to move.
I have a few of the parallel clamps, and have a recent habit of buying a couple every Black Friday.
My issue is that the best deals (lowest discount, and sizes I want) are NOT on the in-store sizes, but online only. However! Approximately 50% of the clamps I have ordered for in-store pickup have arrived with a bent bar. They’ve even arrived that way packed carefully in the OEM box. It seems more like a factory problem than a shipping issue.
I’ve also noticed in-store that there are visual indicators of indifferent QA on some of the display clamps – for example, the orange plastic is several different shades. Not a functional difference, but the sort of thing you don’t get from a good QC system.
Overall, I’ve found that when I get a good clamp, they’re sufficient for my very infrequent use. And the BF pricing on some when they get around “60% off” is enticing. But I’m getting tired of playing a QA lottery with them.
Another irritation is that if you order an online clamp, and it arrives defective, at my store I cannot just exchange it out for a good one. I have to do a refund, which doesn’t equate to another clamp at promo pricing.
Perhaps my experience is more representative than I thought. I assumed I was just pickier than the average bear and other people out there were just keeping their “good deal” clamps with subtle defects.
Everett
At 1 of the 3 in my area Lowe’s they had the Flex 3 piece set $169.which was $120.off there $299.suggested and Klein’s I modbox bottom rolling box $109.the Middle box $59.and the half sized $49. and rounding out the deals was Toughbuilts Stacktech which personally I’ve never seen on sale the 3 piece set they put together was $75. off so I’m wondering if this could be a sign of things to come for this exact store or Lowe’s in general
Patrick T
I didn’t do a ton of in-store shopping this holiday season. Stopped into a couple of Lowe’s looking for some v-series stuff and tried to do an in-store pickup on a Kobalt battery/case/tool kit.
One of the Lowe’s was pretty cleaned out. Almost no Klein or V-series left. Plenty of the ModBox though. The other store was more well stocked, though I had a feeling that things had been restocked because there was more out than on my last visit just after Thanksgiving.
Neither store was able to fulfill the Kobalt starter kit that gave you a case, charger and two batteries plus your choice of tool. I wanted a router and ended up needing to order online for home delivery.
Both stores had yellow tags on the V-series. Plenty of ratchets and 3/8” SAE kits at both. I left with a metric 3/8” socket/ratchet set for $33-ish.
MM
I just got back from Lowes, and it was quite the surprise. For the first time ever I saw a large selection of Stacktech modular storage displayed in a prominent location in the front of the store. In the past I’ve sometimes seen one or perhaps a handful of pieces tucked in a corner or on some overhead shelf with none of it ever being properly displayed.
Stuart
Can you tell us more about this? Were they moved from their regular aisle placement, or was this in addition to that?
MM
I’m not sure if they were removed from their old location because I didn’t happen to walk past the part of the store, but they did appear in two new spots.
The Lowe’s in question has their tool section along the front wall of the store in between the main entrance and the pro/lumber entrance. In the past the Stacktech selection was terrible and was located at the far end of the tool wall, near the pro desk. This time I saw Stacktech in two new locations. One was the main isle straight inside the front entrance. This seems to be where they often put seasonal items. They had rolling and larger size tool boxes there. I saw more Stacktech at the other end of the tool wall near the main registers, which is the usual spot in this store for tool storage. In the past I very rarely saw any Stacktech there, maybe one piece every now and then. This time it seemed that a good quarter of the tool box area seemed devoted to Stacktech. I saw more rolling & standard boxes, single and 3-drawer units , small parts organizers, fabric bags, and coolers. I did see the 4-wheel base and also the cargo carrier that fits in a trailer hitch. They had a handful of accessories but I did not look very hard at them.
If I look at the Spring 2024 image from your article here:
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/lowes-botching-toughbuilt-stacktech/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I saw most of the items present. I did not see the backpacks, ice pack, bins, drinkware, or hand trucks. They appear to have some of the “Summer 2024” items but I didn’t see all of them.
Troy
Man, so are Skil cordless tools on their way out or not? They’ve been running big discounts for a year or so and now clearance, but they keep restocking them, too.
I’ve picked up a few and they’re actually really nice, especially for the money. They also have some cool features (like every battery having USB power out without the need for an adapter) that other brands don’t.
Stuart
I don’t know, and there’s no one to ask. Lowe’s advertised a Skil cordless impact kit for $27.47 via a Google listing, but when I clicked it said $49.98. When I tried to price-compare, I found a Skil 2-tool combo kit advertised as being $54.97 at Lowe’s. The on-page price was also higher.
My Lowe’s doesn’t seem to have been selling any of the 7 Flip Drills that their website says they have locally, or the 10 they say are available for delivery. All of the stores around me are reporting 6 or 7 in stock for pickup. I’m not sure it’s on clearance at my store, that’s just where I found one of them, with some others piled on top of other Skil boxes in random locations.
The Skil 10-tool kit was $299, then $249, then $199, and the $149 flash sale seemed to clear out a lot of the remaining inventory. It’s impossible to know if that was the plan all along, or if it was in response to slow sales.
The point of discussing all these things, aside for the observations being interesting, is so that we have a basis for prediction next year when 2025 holiday deals appear in October or November.
Mike
Does seem like Lowes is clearing out Skill 12v tools.
Several days ago, Lowes’ deals of the day had the drill kit or $29, the 12V impact kit for $29, and the drill and impact kit for $49.
Hoping the impact wrench goes on sale – right now, there is a two battery pack and charger for $79 with a free 12V tool included – including the impact wrench. But, don’t need the batteries or the charger.
Joe E.
I found myself more underwhelmed than usual with this years holiday tool deals. Mechanic’s sets that skip sizes and full of filler, chunky handled piers, bulky looking ratchets, lobster claw wrenches, wrenches made in India, goofy colored tools…
Perhaps it’s just me, but Craftsman, Kobalt, Husky.. pretty much all of them have tanked so far in quality that I can no longer open my wallet. I don’t expect tool truck quality at Harbor Freight pricing, but it appears to me the DIY brands of the 2020’s are offering the cheapest quality items at a price point I can’t agree with. There were no deals as far as I’m concerned.
PW
My experience with Lowe’s this year is that they had a lot of legitimately great flash sales or limited deals, but they immediately sold out locally. The stuff that actually made it to the floor was kind of meh.
A lot of the lingering stuff I saw matches what Stuart saw. Certain hot items from past years seem to have been overbought for this year – mini toolboxes, Jorgensen clamps, and Klein tools come to mind.
I was intrigued by the V-Series offerings, but all the socket sets were sold out at my local Lowe’s before they even put up the promo displays! People ordered them for delivery or pickup and the actual displays were just ratchets. I’m not interested in the ratchets, and given the way they lingered, other people weren’t either.
One interesting little deal I saw was the Kobalt branded 2-pack of a mini pliers wrench and water pump pliers for $10 (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Water-Pump-and-Pliers-Wrench-2-Pack-Mini-Plier-Set/5015255385). I got the second to last one in my local store. I’m not sure how long the display was out, but it wasn’t up at the start of the season, and was gone shortly after I snagged one. Seems like a successful item.
Stuart
I bought the Kobalt pliers at the $15 price, and feel it’s worth just that much. My store was sold out of that too. I never saw the $10 price.
TonyT
Some comments from a quick visit to my recent Lowes:
Special Buys area
— I’d say 30-40% of the items (such as Craftsman neon tape measures and such) seemed to have good sell thought.
— Craftsman and Kobalt specials predominated
— Very large display of Klein Modbox, with at least some of the drawer units sold
— Small to medium displays of Kobalt CaseStack, Craftsman VersaStack and TradeStack
— Pink mini toolboxes were still available
End Caps, Center Aisle
— Dominated by Kobalt and Craftsman, including some VersaStack. I couldn’t find any V-series, but there was a good selection of Craftsman Overdrive sets and VersaStack-compatible sets (3 drawer set, but also Toughcase-style sets)
— Klein endcap with special buys, some Modbox
— Only Bosch laser rangers and levels on display
— Metabo HPT display was all nailers, mostly pneumatic with a few 18V units
Modular Box area
— Same as normal, with a decent selection of a VersaStack, TradeStack, Flex Stack Pack, ToughBuilt StackTech, and a large selection of Modbox.
QR
Got the Klein blacked out screwdrivers for $23, seemed to be the only thing today with yellow clearance stickers was 2 or 3 Klein sets. Seemed like a fair number of displays of Kobalt and Craftsman still in the specials area by the door, and plenty of mini toolboxes in various colors. Possibly they were just able to have plentof inventory this year and the supply chain kinks have all been worked out.
Joe
I know it’s not realistic for most, but if you’re near Canada and are on the Kobalt 24V platform Rona has them on clearance. They were owned by Lowes for about a 10 year stretch, and I guess now they’re pivoting to Craftsman to replace Kobalt. Lots of stuff still available at 50% off.
JoelLikestools
I am considering the Kobalt deal for batteries, case, and tool with charger for 99$. Torn between the trim router and right angle impact.