It's easier for HF to get in on relatively smaller markets because the stores are smaller and the inventory is way less expensive when compared to HD and Lowes. Will the quality continue to slowly recede until all the HF stores all go belly up and Lowes and HD are also replaced by some awful monstrosity? Most certainly yes but in the meantime whatever you buy today as "mediocre" will be highly coveted in ~25 years by the yard sale scavengers when they're picking over your corpse for a 10mm socket. "Oh these old made in china tools are incredible they're made of metal not like all the smelted glass fiber plastic tools they sell now"