Why do you think it is that office supply centric stores are rapidly going out of business? It seems to be the cause of big box stores covering all the bases & not having to specialize in one product. Knocking out the places that do specialize in a certain line or type of product.
No, I can't say I've noticed this happening at any other rate than other businesses. maybe it's just where you are, for whatever reason?
Office Depot and Office Max are pretty stable around here, I never see a whole lot of people go in there but they aren't necessarily going out of business. Radioshack on the other hand can't go out of business fast enough.
I think it is because Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples are bit more on the expensive side of the spectrum. You can find pretty much the same things at Walmart, Kmart, and other places at a more affordable places.
In my area the Office Max stores closed. Office Depot (which actually merged with Office Max) is the last one standing as well as local ones. The Radio Shacks closed. Radio Shack were too expensive though and didn't have much variety. Office Max basically carried the same things Office Depot carries, so it never made sense to me anyway.
I have noticed that the big supply stores do not have that many employees in the stores any more. They have more help your self services. Also the ink that they have available is limited forcing you to go online to get the items you need.
Office Depot and Office Max have merged, so I won't be surprised to see them eventually shut down one or the other. Hoping it actually makes prices better all around. I have staples very close to my house and though it is expensive most of the time, if you watch the sales and use coupons, you can easily score $0.01 paper about once a month, and get tons of back to school deals that are even better than Walmart. I have to admit, I have come to love Staples by figuring out their sale cycle. I haven't paid for printer paper in over 2 years.
This has never happened where I'm from. Don't people usually buy their office supplies from bookstores? There are mid-level office supply stores that put up their business across schools and universities which never seem to run out of students. For that reason alone, I don't think those stores have stopped earning profit.
No way, we might have electronic devices and paperless offices here in our part of the world, but those are the few who can afford the upgrade. The will still have to contend with the cheaper, more ubiquitous office supplies. Stores that specialize exclusively on office supplies don't rely on their individual customers to stay afloat, they rely on bulk purchases from the multitudes of offices that still need them.
I have noticed the closings and consolidations over the years. I have found that padded envelopes 6"x9" are cheaper to buy 2/$1 at Dollar Tree than at any of the office supplies stores I've checked. I often buy my supplies there or at Walmart in person, or online, if I don't need them immediately. Ever since I switched printers, I am having trouble finding cheap ink, which I usually buy on eBay because it's so much cheaper, but even there, ink for this printer is expensive.
In the country where I'm from, the competition is very stiff, all claiming to have prices lower than the others. I went to one store and was surprised to see a lot of people waiting for their turn to be served. It took me almost 30 minutes just to buy one pen. So, I don't think those stores will be going out of business soon.
I've actually been waiting for this to happen to some of our local office supply stores since I always assumed that people would be buying a lot less physical products like paper and pens nowadays but I guess I was wrong since they are all still going strong, probably because people still print on paper and they can also get away with selling a lot of modern technological accessories as well.
Office Depot/Max are doing fine as far as I know. The company has decent financials and isn't in danger of shuttering too many stores in the near future. Office supply stores have found a way to survive at least somewhat by selling computers and offering loyalty programs. They still cater to businesses, which brings in a decent amount of revenue.
I shop online because it saves me an incredible amount of time and money. It's nearly always cheaper for me, even with shipping. It's not surprising that stores are suffering....
I never understood how Office Depot and Office Max were able to coexist for as long as they did, considering they were practically carbon copies of each other (no pun intended). Their stores were virtually identical inside and out. Even Staples is practically the same as both of them too. There was never really any reason to go to one vs. the other, such as a different selection, a larger selection, or far better prices. It was really just a matter of which one was closer. Even if their physical locations are consolidating and closing down, I don't think they would go away entirely. Sure many people may be ordering their supplies online at places such as Amazon, but there will still be times when local businesses need stuff now and cannot wait a week or two for it to arrive in the mail. Sure, you can get some of the same stuff at places like Wal-mart, but they don't have anywhere near the same selection of specialty office items that these stores carry.
I cannot really say that I am too surprised here. All of these big warehouse like stores really have an enormous threat in online warehouses, and with prices on shipping dropping dramatically it is so easy for the consumer to do their shopping from home, and when it is in bulk it is easier to just have it shipped. Times are changing, and businesses are needed to adapt to a new marketplace.
