Office Depot Closes 112 Stores
Office Depot, as part of its strategic review announced in October, will close 112 retail stores in North America over the next three months, reducing the store number to 1,163. The stores to be shuttered include 45 in the Central U.S., 40 in the Northeast and Canada, 19 in the West and eight in the South. In 2009, 14 more stores are already scheduled to be closed as their leases expire or other lease arrangements are finalized. Store openings in 2009 have been sliced to 20, cut back from the 40 that were estimated to open. Six of the company's 33 distribution facilities in North America are also scheduled to close. Office Depot's long-term plan is to reduce the total number of facilities and combine its separate supply chain systems.