Staples To Close 70 Stores Following Disappointing Retail Sales

Big-box retailers have seen store closures left and right over the past year.

From stores like Macy’s and JCPenney to HHGregg, it seems like there aren’t many retailers that are immune to the shift in consumer buying. As more sales move to either the online realm or a mixture of the web and in-store, retailers will likely continue to either revamp company strategies or reduce their number locations.

The latest retailer to add its name to the list this year is office supply giant Staples. It made the announcement this week that it’s planning to close 70 stores in North America following disappointing sales. In both the United States, Canada and the whole company, Staples’ sales declined 7 percent from a year ago.

This isn’t the first time Staples has had to make the difficult decision to close stores. In 2016, it closed 48 stores and another combined 242 for the two years before that. This brings the total number of store closings, including this year, to 360 locations.

After the Federal Trade Commission shut down the company’s desire to acquire Office Depot, Staples took this as a turning point to focus more on business services and its eCommerce efforts and away from its brick-and-mortar locations.

This brings up the issue of whether or not office supply companies will either go away completely or make a concerted effort to integrate digital eCommerce efforts in stores. Given the amount of connected devices on the rise and consumers spending more online, it’s likely the latter of the two will occur.