Back before Electrolux got their mitts in a good company. I worked at a Stihl/Husqvarna in 1999 when Electrolux/Husqvarna decided to screw it's dealer network in the name of "shareholder profits" and suckle at the tit of big box stores. It pissed off a lot of folks. A few dealers cut their ties with Electrolux/Husqvarna over it. This is where the problem started.
At first, Lowe's would only get a select few "Harry homeowner" models of handheld equipment "to protect the integrity of the dealers". A few years later, some homeowner mowers and mid-range "farm duty" saws were added to the Lowe's catalog (55 Rancher was the biggest thing you could get). From 2001-2007 I worked at a Stihl dealership that catered primarily to the tree service/logging industry (I was the mechanic). We added Husqvarna to our lineup with the understanding of the sales rep that we were a saw shop. Not a lawnmower shop, not a weedeater shop. A SAW SHOP. The decision to add Husky was to take care of customers that wanted that brand and nothing else. Our goal was to be a "one-stop-shop" for guys in crew cab F-450's heading to the city for tree removal jobs. Right down to an ice machine to fill their coolers. It went well for a couple years. Then the sales rep told us we had to stock mowers if we wanted to keep the line. Ok. No biggie. We also sold Snapper mowers (dealership since the late '70s) so it kinda fit, and he was only asking us to sell a handful of mowers a year. Everything went smooth until the next year (2005 I wanna say). We did our booking order for about 5 mowers. Come late winter, an 18 wheeler pulls in the lot with a trailer nearly FULL of mowers (including some commercial mowers) with a pick list that said it was our "booking order". Luckily, we had a paper copy of the REAL order of 5 mowers. The rep had doubled the number of mowers we ordered, and added a couple other models. We refused the shipment. The sales rep showed up two days later and absolutely blew a gasket. He was shown the door and we canceled our dealership. In talking to other dealerships, we were not alone in this type of business practice.
Fast forward six years and two deployments to 2012, and now I find myself wrenching on saws and mowers again at another Stihl/Husqvarna dealership. Same story. Except now Lowe's selling a large selection of Husky/AYP mowers except for "Pro" ztrs and the "LS" series fab deck tractors. This dealership is also a service center for the Lowe's junk. Every year the requirements go up for your annual booking order. Larger parts order minimums and larger wholegoods minimums. The "Gold" level is no longer good enough, how you have to shoot for "Platinum". They keep squeezing the small family run businesses with larger and larger orders to maintain "status" and profit margins. This translates into more and more debt. Whatever doesn't sell will bend you over with a sandpaper you-know-what in interest at the end of the season if it doesn't sell.
Husqvarna wants to build an empire, which is fine. The way they built it was crap. They wanted to get into zero turns, so they bought out Yazoo/Kees. They wanted to get into riding mowers, so they bought out AYP. They couldn't get their commercial trimmers to pass emissions, so they bought out RedMax and changed the plastic to orange. Other brands they have gobbled up include Dixon, Poulan, Weedeater, Bluebird, McCulloch, and Jonsered. Apparently they can't innovate like the used to. Gotta buy up others for their patents and shut 'em down or re-brand. Law of unintended consequences applies here. All those loyal customers, dealerships, mechanics, salespeople, etc of those brands are likely still in the industry. Maybe a few now work for Husky, but a lot more don't, and they remember the **** that Husqvarna pulled on them and it left a bad taste in their mouth. I know it did mine.
If they don't change how they do things, Husqvarna won't have an empire for long. Recently I walked into Lowe's and there sat two commercial zero turns and several fab deck garden tractors. I've been in the industry for the better part of two decades and I have wrenched on my last Husqvarna. Not because the products are bad, many are very good (particularly in the days of the 372XP, 288XP Lite, and the like), but because I am not enabling their ******** any more. I will not enable them to provide quality service to box store customers. They are asking servicing dealers to cut their own throat.
THIS is why you can't find Husqvarna dealerships. Husqvarna keeps f@#$ing them out of business.. At least two have closed their doors in my area in the last two years, and I'll be surprised if the one I've been working at it still around in a year.
Sorry for long-winded reply, but it's complicated. Hope it answers the question.
-Eric