Office Depot in $1.2 billion deal to buy rival OfficeMax

[FarCenter]

Office Depot Inc will acquire smaller rival OfficeMax Inc in a $1.2 billion all-stock deal, the companies said on Wednesday, confirming an agreement inadvertently announced earlier in the day, before it was completed.

...

Office supply retailers, often seen as a barometer of economic health, have suffered as demand for their products fell after the recent U.S. recession. They also face strong competition from Amazon.com Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc in selling everything from pens and notebooks to furniture to government, businesses and individuals.

Office Depot and OfficeMax said combining would help them compete better with online retailers and warehouse clubs, among others. They expect the deal to yield annual cost savings of $400 million to $600 million within three years after its anticipated closing by the end of 2013.

"By combining our two businesses, we create a stronger, more efficient competitor able to meet the growing challenges of a rapidly changing industry," Austrian said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-officedepot-officemax-idUSBRE91J0O220130220

There are 170 Office Depot and Office Max stores within 1 mile of each other. That is an immediate takeout of 85 stores for savings, but I've heard numbers up to 600 stores to close.

[Auggie]

1. I hate these places ... they remind me of Wal-Mart

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell the two apart.

I know there is one two miles from my house, and another one four miles from my house, but I can't for the life of me tell you which one is which. They look virtually identical on both the inside and out.

[FarCenter]

3. Luckily, Office World is internet-only.

[Gorp]

4. Office Max is excellent. Office Depot is unorganized and not worth my time.

I really hope this doesn't go through. And yes, there is a major difference between Office Max and other "big box" stores. Office Max stocks damn near every type of ink cartridge and pretty much everything else you need for a home office. None of the other stores even come close to the selection. Rather than having 4,000 units of one item, Office Max keeps a reasonable number of a wide selection of items. It's rather unique in that respect.

I've only got two Office Max stores within a reasonable range. Losing either would really piss me off, especially since the one more distant from me is in the plaza across the street from the one that USED to house an Office Depot some years back. It closed because it couldn't handle the competition from the Staples down the street. If they swallow Office Max, that store is history.

And the distance between stores is bullshit. Many chain stores locate that close because traffic patterns differ. I've seen McDonald's buildings right across the street from each other because most traffic favors a right turn. That makes sense. The same is true for convenience stores and/or gas stations. Turn right to get in, turn right to get back out. It can be the same brand or a different one but it doesn't matter.

There aren't many chain stores I support, but Office Max and K-Mart are two of them. The Sears and K-Mart merger was not good news for either brand. It crippled Sears and saddled K-Mart. I see a similar situation brewing here. It would be like WalMart buying Sam's Club - D'OH!

[Agschmid]

7. I believe Wal-Mart and Sam's are indeed the same company? nt

[Gorp]

8. They are. It was a joke. Hence the "D'OH!"

[Agschmid]

9. Oh. I have a terrible sense of humor, sorry! n/t

[Gorp]

11. No problem. Update: Yesterday's paper said the merger is going to go through.

Basically it seems to be going down as Office Depot acquiring Office Max and the deal should be completed by the end of the year. I still don't like it.

[lpbk2713]

5. I get the idea Office Depot is not a good place to work.

Every time I go there it's always new faces. And they're not familar with what
they sell or even some times where the product is located within the store.

[SoCalDem]

6. Sucks for me

Our Staples moved waaaaaay across town to be near walmart (too far)

so I switched to Office Depot, and now they will probably close it down & use the Office Max, waaaaay on the other side of town near the OTHER walmart..

People like us who are "centrally located" keep losing banks, grocery stores and just about everything else

[Initech]

10. Same shit, different name.

[NightWatcher]

12. They'll merge, close half the stores, and be known as Office Office

Around here they're always within a mile of each other. I don't see a reason to keep two open under one name so close together. Yay, another mega mega is born.