Over the past few days, I have noticed a new commercial for Office Max/Office Depot. Throughout the commercial they make reference to both names, and they make it sound like both names are going to remain after the merger. I was under the impression, however, that one of the names was going to eventually disappear,and am wondering if this is just a "transition" commercial until that happens. It reminds me of the Bon-Macy's commercials during the transition from The Bon Marche to Macy's in the northwest.
Where I live, there is a fairly new Office Depot (which opened in a spot occupied by Ace Hardware until they consolidated their space) maybe a mile down the road from an Office Max located in a former grocery store, in an older building, which is showing its age, and I would suspect will eventually shut down. Office Max and Office Depot already co-exist in many markets including Oregon/Washington, often close to one another, but there really haven't been any closings that I am aware of in the region, not yet, anyway.
Office Max/Office Depot running co-branded commercials
Re: Office Max/Office Depot running co-branded commercials
Most people already confuse OfficeMax and Office Depot. This has been the case for years. Changing the signage on the stores and in the stores would cost a ton of money. Office Depot is such a cheapskate company, that it is unlikely that they will do so in the future. The names are so close that it makes not sense. However, producing one set of commercials and one set of ads for all stores does make sense in that it saves advertising money. I noticed the store ads are now identical and co-branded. Even though OfficeMax and Office Depot have separate websites, the ads are the same.
Closing stores will probably happen over time. As soon as leases run out, they will simply not renew the leases if the stores are close enough together. In some cases, closing unprofitable stores seems like a good idea.
I feel that both names will probably survive, however new stores will of course favor the Office Depot name and decor. Office Depot is the one who bought OfficeMax and over time the stores will probably be converted toward a more Office Depot style layout. OfficeMax featured more floorspace devoted to furniture. Office Depot devotes more floor space to office supplies, computers, laptops, and electronics. Office Depot also is more expensive. The worst pricing is at Office Depot. Staples is the low price leader, and they match prices of other stores. You know you will be ripped off at Office Depot, but at Staples you can always get a price match.
Closing stores will probably happen over time. As soon as leases run out, they will simply not renew the leases if the stores are close enough together. In some cases, closing unprofitable stores seems like a good idea.
I feel that both names will probably survive, however new stores will of course favor the Office Depot name and decor. Office Depot is the one who bought OfficeMax and over time the stores will probably be converted toward a more Office Depot style layout. OfficeMax featured more floorspace devoted to furniture. Office Depot devotes more floor space to office supplies, computers, laptops, and electronics. Office Depot also is more expensive. The worst pricing is at Office Depot. Staples is the low price leader, and they match prices of other stores. You know you will be ripped off at Office Depot, but at Staples you can always get a price match.