In January, Office Max announced plans to close 110 of their underperforming stores. This is spurred because for the fiscal year 2005, they ended with a net loss of over $73 million. It appears that in certain markets (the Northeast being one), they have just been getting slaughtered. This is interesting, because as far as I can remember, Office Max moved into my immediate area before Staples or Officedepot. Even now, Officedepot doesn’t have much of a foothold in Monmouth County, but Officemax is getting killed head to head by Staples.
I didn’t realize how bad this was until last week when I found out that the local Holmdel store is closing. Everything is 10-30% off and the place is already eerily sterile. All the markings of Office Max are gone and replaced with large “Store Closing” banners everywhere you look. I remember when that particular store opened, it must have bene over 10 years ago, and to see it in such disarray is saddening, although not particullarly suprising. I know that over the past few years, I have become a loyal Staples shopper. Their prices always seem more competitive, their stores are easier to shop, and the print/copy center is located right when you walk in the store (and not buried in the back like the local Office Max).
There is an interesting website launched by Office Max in order to sell or sublet their excess property. In this day and age, there is a lot of money to be made by dead/dying retail franchises through real estate (Sears is going to make a bundle of money when they decide to start closing underperforming Sears/K-Marts and sell the property that they own). This website shows a map of the area, map of the store, demographic information, and a map of the shopping center that it is located in.
What is most interesting about the Holmdel location map is that they show some of the stores that are about to move into the center. This includes an LA Fitness location, which I had read about, moving into the location vacated by the old pharmacy and party stores. But more interesting, for locals, is that the old Wiz location is being divided up into smaller stores and that this is being anchored by a new Cold Stone Creamery. You know how excited this makes me? My excitement is only enhanced by the fact that there is another place opening up called a Fatburger. As you can tell, I am a fat bastard and excited easily.
I am very suprised that with this round of closings, Office Max has killed almost all of it’s retail presence in New Jersey. However, I think that there will be some suprising developments as they still plan to open 70 new stores this year under their award winning “Advantage” prototype. I think that they will reevaluate what they did wrong, geographically, in New Jersey and reapproach this market with a better format and better locations.
