What's Office Depot's future

[veteran+]

Somewhere in the past I saw a Staples Express format. It reminded me of a Kinkos with a few more office supplies. I can't remember where this was. It was in some large city.

I think the problem with small format in this segment is it misses the few "high dollar" type transactions they still get- the occasional furniture or computer/printer sale... and with as low as their sales volumes are they probably can feel those few missing high dollar sales.

The "Express" format almost felt more geared toward print services than supplies.

You're right, I forgot to mention the very short lived Staples print centers. They tried using the Staples Print and Copy name, then Staples Express. There was one near Marina Del Rey. I think where these died was when the cell phone business and computer repair business collapsed as they were the only other profit centers planned into the concept. There could be a few left in NYC...

The furniture business is very high profit and delivers decent volume. More than you might expect. All my office furniture is from a Office Depot collection and I've moved it three times, it's still in great shape. These stores hold onto a lot of that merchandise as it can sit in the warehouse for years without taking much room.

All my office furniture is from Office Depot as well. Staples hardly has any selection in the stores I have visited. Since furniture is indeed more profitable, makes one wonder what is Staples thinking. Also, much better customer service at OD (MUCH better).

[storewanderer]

Somewhere in the past I saw a Staples Express format. It reminded me of a Kinkos with a few more office supplies. I can't remember where this was. It was in some large city.

I think the problem with small format in this segment is it misses the few "high dollar" type transactions they still get- the occasional furniture or computer/printer sale... and with as low as their sales volumes are they probably can feel those few missing high dollar sales.

The "Express" format almost felt more geared toward print services than supplies.

You're right, I forgot to mention the very short lived Staples print centers. They tried using the Staples Print and Copy name, then Staples Express. There was one near Marina Del Rey. I think where these died was when the cell phone business and computer repair business collapsed as they were the only other profit centers planned into the concept. There could be a few left in NYC...

The furniture business is very high profit and delivers decent volume. More than you might expect. All my office furniture is from a Office Depot collection and I've moved it three times, it's still in great shape. These stores hold onto a lot of that merchandise as it can sit in the warehouse for years without taking much room.

All my office furniture is from Office Depot as well. Staples hardly has any selection in the stores I have visited. Since furniture is indeed more profitable, makes one wonder what is Staples thinking. Also, much better customer service at OD (MUCH better).

I tried many times to buy furniture at Staples. For whatever reason it just never worked out. Not the right fit, not the right comfort level, not in stock...

Office Depot I've been able to find furniture items there when I needed them multiple times.

Staples has fallen so far from what they once were. They used to have strict operating standards and were tightly run. Maybe too tightly when you see how they've fallen apart. I think Office Depot always had an edge on product quality.

So far I've been glad they haven't merged. My concern is in mergers where it sounded like Staples would be the controlling entity, I think that would have represented a major decline in the offer of Office Depot if they brought it to the Staples way.

[ClownLoach]

You're right, I forgot to mention the very short lived Staples print centers. They tried using the Staples Print and Copy name, then Staples Express. There was one near Marina Del Rey. I think where these died was when the cell phone business and computer repair business collapsed as they were the only other profit centers planned into the concept. There could be a few left in NYC...

The furniture business is very high profit and delivers decent volume. More than you might expect. All my office furniture is from a Office Depot collection and I've moved it three times, it's still in great shape. These stores hold onto a lot of that merchandise as it can sit in the warehouse for years without taking much room.

All my office furniture is from Office Depot as well. Staples hardly has any selection in the stores I have visited. Since furniture is indeed more profitable, makes one wonder what is Staples thinking. Also, much better customer service at OD (MUCH better).

I tried many times to buy furniture at Staples. For whatever reason it just never worked out. Not the right fit, not the right comfort level, not in stock...

Office Depot I've been able to find furniture items there when I needed them multiple times.

Staples has fallen so far from what they once were. They used to have strict operating standards and were tightly run. Maybe too tightly when you see how they've fallen apart. I think Office Depot always had an edge on product quality.

So far I've been glad they haven't merged. My concern is in mergers where it sounded like Staples would be the controlling entity, I think that would have represented a major decline in the offer of Office Depot if they brought it to the Staples way.

Staples is pretty much under the thumb of private equity vultures now. They are stagnant and don't really do much of anything now. They have almost no corporate overhead and couldn't control anything if they acquired the retail arm of ODP. They would have to hand control over to ODP by default if such a deal occurred.

[FrankMoore99]

I know Office Depot has been closing stores and it seems like they have been shutting down stores for 10+ years now. And they are closing stores that seem like they should be profitable (Davis, California for example) and are keeping stores open that seem like they should have closed years ago (still have 4 stores in the Reno market along with 2 Staples stores in a market that warrants 2-3 office supply stores, Napa, California still has both Office Depot and Staples, and both West Monroe and Monroe, Louisiana have an Office Depot). But there is literally no information about Office Depot store closures list on the Internet.

Here are the few I have found that have recently closed this year:
Downey, California-OfficeMax (the town also has a Staples)
Placerville, California-OfficeMax (this one hurts because it is my closest office supply store and it hurts because it was the only office supply electronic store in the area. The closest office supply store to Placerville is 20 miles away in Folsom, which might actually be pretty close for these stores.)
Nampa, Idaho (the town also has a Staples)
Alamo Ranch, San Antonio, TX-OfficeMax (becoming a Barnes and Noble store and there are other Office Depot stores nearby)
Richland, Washington (near another Office Depot store in Kennewick)

In the past few months (last year):
Davis, California
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Alton, Illinois
Chicago-Hyde Park, Illinois
Columbus, Indiana
Escondido, California
San Diego North, California
San Bernardino, California
Salt Lake City-University, Utah

Are these stores unprofitable, or is Office Depot being forced out of these places because a new store is opening in those spaces?? Does Office Depot plan to reopen in any of the markets they closed in with smaller stores?? Will Staples plan to open their own stores to replace these closed stores?? How many stores will they and Staples close before it reaches the ideal amount. Do they have plans to remodel and downsize the spaces of their existing stores?? Here's my blogpost which explains more on the subject: https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... order.html

Where's Office Depot/Max closing at other than these places??
I heard Farmington, Missouri, Beachwood, Ohio, Mansfield, Ohio, and Galveston, Texas are others. Is there a complete list for 2024?

[reymann]

i wonder if office depot is ramping down on the storefront end as leases come up since most of their business on the business to business side.

[ClownLoach]

I know Office Depot has been closing stores and it seems like they have been shutting down stores for 10+ years now. And they are closing stores that seem like they should be profitable (Davis, California for example) and are keeping stores open that seem like they should have closed years ago (still have 4 stores in the Reno market along with 2 Staples stores in a market that warrants 2-3 office supply stores, Napa, California still has both Office Depot and Staples, and both West Monroe and Monroe, Louisiana have an Office Depot). But there is literally no information about Office Depot store closures list on the Internet.

Here are the few I have found that have recently closed this year:
Downey, California-OfficeMax (the town also has a Staples)
Placerville, California-OfficeMax (this one hurts because it is my closest office supply store and it hurts because it was the only office supply electronic store in the area. The closest office supply store to Placerville is 20 miles away in Folsom, which might actually be pretty close for these stores.)
Nampa, Idaho (the town also has a Staples)
Alamo Ranch, San Antonio, TX-OfficeMax (becoming a Barnes and Noble store and there are other Office Depot stores nearby)
Richland, Washington (near another Office Depot store in Kennewick)

In the past few months (last year):
Davis, California
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Alton, Illinois
Chicago-Hyde Park, Illinois
Columbus, Indiana
Escondido, California
San Diego North, California
San Bernardino, California
Salt Lake City-University, Utah

Are these stores unprofitable, or is Office Depot being forced out of these places because a new store is opening in those spaces?? Does Office Depot plan to reopen in any of the markets they closed in with smaller stores?? Will Staples plan to open their own stores to replace these closed stores?? How many stores will they and Staples close before it reaches the ideal amount. Do they have plans to remodel and downsize the spaces of their existing stores?? Here's my blogpost which explains more on the subject: https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com ... order.html

Where's Office Depot/Max closing at other than these places??
I heard Farmington, Missouri, Beachwood, Ohio, Mansfield, Ohio, and Galveston, Texas are others. Is there a complete list for 2024?

They have never made lists. I think it is part of a strategy to scare their landlords and their employees.

The landlord strategy is to make every landlord think that they are going to pull out at lease end, hoping that the landlord will present them with concessions, discounts, etc. in hopes they'll stay. I think this is not going to work much longer as smaller boxes are becoming more popular. Most retailers now want a 20K to 30K box which is basically the whole Office store industry. The companies that liked larger boxes around 40K and up are mostly out of business (BB&B and their other brands, all the sporting goods chains that merged into Sports Authority then closed). Barnes & Noble, Sprouts and Trader Joe's are now trying to take these office supply stores as their size and good logistics are ideal for their formats. This alone means that many more will close as the sites are in demand and landlords would rather have a better tenant like Trader Joe's that brings more traffic to the center making it more attractive to other businesses who may be willing to pay higher rent to be there versus other centers.

As far as the employees side, this is just bad management where these chains try to use reports like score cards to scare the employees into thinking they are going to close unless they "perform" by selling more warranty plans, more credit card applications, and so forth. As if the couple bucks a credit card application nets the store will sway any decision being made on the lease which is a multi million dollar decision.

I do believe that the very oldest stores, which include some converted Office Club locations which usually are freestanding warehouse buildings in business parks outside of shopping centers, are owned by the company and thus are unlikely to ever close. A couple of examples include Signal Hill, CA and Irvine by the University. These are super sleepy stores that seem to do no business but aren't going anywhere. I think that Signal Hill location has been operated by the company over 40 years now (note that it is older than Office Depot as a chain because they later acquired Office Club in a merger).

I think this is a rare case where the government should have backed off and allowed the Staples and Office Depot chains to merge, although such a transaction could have backfired. See the merger of SportMart, Gart Sports, Oshmans, and Sports Authority where all those chains became the new Sports Authority... Then all closed down.