Office Depot + Office Max = Store Closures

Office Depot and Office Max have agreed to merge in a $1.17 billion all-stock deal. The agreement would combine the #2 and #3 office supply retailers.

I ran an Info USA report on the 850+ Office Max locations and 1,100+ Office Depot locations in the United States and combined the two lists. I found 633 store locations that shared the same ZIP code as another location. Several of these are two of the same brand stores, but the majority are an Office Depot and Office Max in the same retail trade area. 

Bloomberg published an interesting article on the merger. Here are a few points that stood out:

• Gary Balter, an analyst for Credit Suisse AG in New York, estimates as many as 600 stores could be closed as a result of the merger.
• Daniel Binder, an analyst for Jefferies & Co., said in a research note that 52 percent of Office Depot’s and OfficeMax’s stores in the U.S. are within five miles of each other, offering plenty of opportunities to cut locations.
• Even with an OfficeMax and Office Depot merger, Staples’s more than $24 billion in sales would eclipse their combined $18 billion.

Here are maps showing the current footprint of each retail chain and a map of their combined locations.