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Thursday, April 1, 2021

[ALERT] Office Depot Closing Two MORE Stores in Atlanta

ToNeTo Atlanta has learned that at least two additional Atlanta area Office Depot stores will soon close.  The two new closures - Snellville and Stone Mountain - follow news we reported March 19 that the Boca Raton-based company is also closing stores in East Cobb, Sandy Springs and Hiram.  All affected stores are currently offering 5-30% off in-stock merchandise ahead of planned May closures.  

The Stone Mountain Office Depot is located at 5064 Memorial Drive and anchors Citadel Square shopping center.  The office supply store occupies a 26,840 square foot space that is already marked as "available" and being marketed for lease by Skyline Seven who is handling the center's leasing efforts.  In Snellville, Office Depot helps to anchor the Presidential Markets power center where fellow anchors include TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Target, Publix, Bed Bath & Beyond, AMC Theatres and Ross, among others.  The 31,628 square foot Office Depot space is not yet being publicly marketed for lease by center owner First Washington Realty.

Office Depot has closed several Atlanta area stores in recent years including those in Toco Hills, Northlake and Roswell.  The company, officially The ODP Corporation, has also closed several of its OfficeMax branded stores in metro Atlanta including those in Brookhaven, Duluth and Suwanee, among others.  

In January, rival office supply store Staples made an unsolicited offer to acquire Office Depot (ODP) in a deal valued at $2.1 billion.  The offer was rejected by the ODP board, the third time the two companies had been near a deal in the past 25 years.  

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) successfully won a federal court ruling blocking the two companies' planned $4 billion merger in 1997.  A planned $6.3 billion merger in 2016 was called off by the two companies after it, too, was challenged by the FTC.  

After peaking at more than $420 per share in May 2006, Office Depot stock has not eclipsed $100 per share in recent years.  That said, the company has come back significantly from its 52 week low of $15.10 reached on March 30, 2020, to close at $43.29 on March 31, 2021.

What would you like to see open in place of the two soon-to-close Office Depot stores?  Do you think Staples and Office Depot should merge?  Did you know that OfficeMax was once a subsidiary of Kmart?

Please share your thoughts below.   

6 comments:

  1. Yes, formerly a division of Kmart and in many shopping centers you’ll recall there was a Kmart, Office Max and Sports Authority all in the same center (i.e. Akers Mill). Also I believe the Office Depot on Memorial Drive has been there since the mid 80’s where it replaced an A&P Superstore.

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  2. Speaking as someone who is in the industry, I expect that OD is circling the drain. They are all praying that the FTC lets the Staples deal go through.

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  3. To survive office depot will need to enter new markets such as schools. Schools buy what Office Depot sells, just in different sizes. Plus in certain markets they can still deliver.

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  4. The Office Depot in Snellville still stays pretty busy. Hard to believe they're gonna close up shop, but there it is. Oh well.

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  5. The Memorial Drive Office Depot is really closer to Clarkston than Stone Mountain. It is less than a mile from GSU's Clarkston campus (formerly Georgia Perimeter College), and typically gets business from that campus's student body. I suspect a year plus of mainly online classes has had an impact.

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  6. The closing of the East Cobb Store is one that will impact many schools and business in a 15-20 mile radius and will cause drive time to more 30-45 minutes to get our supplies. Its hard to believe this particular store is targeted for closer. There is a Target Store across the street and another shopping center adjacent with open space.....maybe someone will fill the void fo business and office and school supplies.

    Bottom line you have made a bad business decision by closing the East Cobb Office Depot store.

    Sincerely,

    Scott A. Samuels, President
    BeneServe & Associates, LLC
    Beneserve@aol.com (Personal Account)

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