Sears To Sell DieHard Brand: Will The Cash Deal Breathe New Life Into The Retailer?

Sears’ DieHard brand is reportedly being acquired by Advance Auto Parts for $200 million. The battery brand has been around since 1967 and has been a fixture at Sears stores throughout the years.

Through the all-cash deal, Sears-owner Transformco will retain the rights to sell some DieHard branded products at its stores while also holding an “exclusive royalty-free, perpetual license” for the development and marketing of DieHard products in other nonautomotive product categories, CNBC reported.

The deal between Advance Auto Parts and Transformco initially began talks in the middle of 2019, which Advance Auto Parts Chief Executive Officer Tom Greco telling the news outlet that “We have been looking at the [battery] category for a couple of years. DieHard has the highest brand awareness and regard of any automotive battery brand in North America.”

Through the deal, Advance Auto Parts will reportedly increase the size of its brand portfolio which it hopes will drive foot traffic into its stores with some DieHard branded products continuing to be sold on Amazon, which Advance Auto Parts reportedly intends to extend to other retailer sites such as Walmart.

″[W]e have long believed that the [DieHard] brand has even more potential,” Peter Boutros, president of Transformco’s Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard business unit, said in a statement. “Advance Auto Parts’ acquisition ... will complement our plans to introduce new DieHard products in non-automotive categories such as sporting goods, lawn and garden, authentic work wear and other exciting new categories.”

The cash deal could also help breathe some new life into Sears and Kmart, which have been struggling for cash after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier in February in a $5.2. billion deal. The company has announced several rounds of store closures as well as layoffs at its corporate offices but has recently secured $250 million from its lenders, including Eddie Lampert, the news outlet said.

DieHard also has three branded stores in operation, which Advance Auto Parts will determine if they continue to operate, CNBC said.

This is not the first sale of one Sears’ brands as the company sold its Craftsman tool business back in 2017 to Stanley Black & Decker, prior to its October 2018 bankruptcy.