Office supply shoppers: Now, where were we?

By MARK ALBRIGHT

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 25, 2001

Once people drove out of their way to shop the big office supply superstores: Staples, Office Depot or Office Max.

Now there are so many of them that customers go to the nearest one no matter what it's called. That's a big reason why Office Depot Inc. of Delray Beach, once the king of the business, has been closing stores as its sales slump.

Customers have a hard time telling the difference between the look-alike stores full of paper clips, binders and computers. A clerk at a St. Petersburg Office Depot says it is not unusual for shoppers to pay with personal checks made out to Staples or Home Depot.

Office Depot recently surveyed customers leaving the various office supply superstores. Only half could name where they had just shopped.

"They didn't even know where they were!" Office Depot chief executive Bruce Nelson said. "That shows how much we have to revitalize who we are."

The store glut hurts Office Depot most. That's because 77 percent of its 825 stores are within 5 miles of an Office Max or Staples. That's true of 63 percent of the Office Max stores and only 40 percent of the Staples outlets.

"Frankly, the greatest growth potential for this company is in other countries," Nelson said.

Part of Nelson's turnaround strategy was implemented on the store shelves. Office Depot cut 2,000 slow-selling items that were a drag on profits from its standard inventory of 8,500 items. New stores will be a third smaller than older ones.

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