Posted on 03/22/2017 7:08:12 AM PDT by Red Badger
More store closings are coming to Staples.
A shopper departs a Staples store September 29, 2005 in Mount Prospect, Illinois. (Credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images)
On Thursday, the office supply store reported a $548 million loss and a 3% drop in sales in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended in January.
Those results prompted Staples to say it would close 70 more stores, or 4.5% of its 1,600 remaining locations, during the current fiscal year. It closed 48 stores last year and has shuttered about 350 stores over the last five years.
The retailer tried to merge with rival Office Depot, but that deal was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission a year ago.
The store closings were partly responsible for the drop in sales, but the company also suffered a 1% sales decline at stores open at least a year.
Traditional brick-and-mortar stores have been under pressure for some time due to greater online competition from online outfits such as Amazon. Hundreds of store closings have been announced so far this year.
Staples joins a growing list of big retailers that are shutting stores, which includes both Sears and its subsidiary Kmart, Macy’s, JCPenney and Abercrombie & Fitch.
On Wednesday evening RadioShack filed for bankruptcy for the second time in two years, announcing it would close 200 of its 1,500 stores and placing the future of the remaining stores in doubt.
In addition, Sears Holdings has announced plans to close 150 Sears and Kmart stores, JCPenney said it will close 140 stores and Macy’s announced it is closing 68 stores and cutting 10,000 jobs. The Limited also announced in January it would close its remaining stores.
Clearance alert!
The irony of the death throes of stores like Staples and Sears is that these stores in their hey day “replaced” a lot of small family owned local businesses. Now they are being “replaced” by on-line retailers like Amazon. One wonders what “bigger fish” will replace Amazon some day....
Online sales. Prices, convenience, return policy. Those will tighten up when there are too few stores to effectively compete.
Probably small family owned businesses.
Aliababa will replace Amazon. Within twelve months....I expect some presence to start up in Germany (Chinese group bought Hahn Airport in past sixty days)...with Aliababa probably announcing their arrival and openly challenging Amazon. It may take five years but I think Amazon will shrink to number two throughout most of Europe. Same will follow in the US.
Higher minimum wages in part to blame.
A merger between Staples and Office Depot would have been every bit as successful as the merger between Sears and Kmart.
The retailer tried to merge with rival Office Depot, but that deal was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission a year ago.
++++
Why? One or the other will probably survive. And one will probably die. So let them make the best of it that they can.
They are ridiculously expensive up here in Canada. All of the mesh office trays, pencil holders, desk files, etc. can be purchased at the dollar stores. At Staples, the same item is about 10 times the price.
They should try again. New business friendly administration................
Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to move over the something called “Alibaba” willy nilly just because. There has to be some direct motivation in ADDITION to pricing, IMO.
I buy most of my stuff at Amazon. I helped cause this. When the big stores go, the little mom-and-pop stores will come back. Maybe yes?
Staples prices are high and their staff tends to be snotty or uninformed. Before there were “office superstores” just about every small city and town had a local office supply store that offered these products and services, and the best thing for those communities would be for Staples to close and allow locally-owned businesses to again fill this niche. There will always be Amazon and online sales for those who want lower prices and are willing to wait.
I have found that the staff at Office Depot is much more helpful than Staples. Staples people at my local store don’t care if you shop there or not.
I'm pretty sure that is not a sustainable business model.
I live in the sticks and have learned to love amazon prime. Frankly, I don’t have a lot of choice out here, but I remember even when I lived in Seattle, the traffic was so bad that shopping was a real chore. My wife would not let me near the malls at Christmas for fear I’d intentionally ram other cars.
And I just found out that you can get stuff within an hour from Amazon.
It is taking a while, but I think the number of stores put out of business by online shopping is an exponentially growing wave. I think we will be seeing a LOT of them going down in the next year.
Heck, I bought my brake pads on amazon. It was a LOT better shopping and comparing experience than going to an auto parts store.
It’s been a long time coming, but I think the predictions about malls folding were accurate, but just premature. This stuff is happening with a vengeance now.
Lotta stores closing. Here are a few more.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/18_retailers_closing_100s_of_s.html#incart_river_index
No. They cannot buy in volume and cannot compete with the online retail prices.................
'AmeriShop'. Run by the federal government. Created by congress in the "Affordable Shopping Act".
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