Staples Shedding 31 Stores in 20 States

A team of seven Dallas-based Staubach brokers will work in concert with a preferred roster of local brokers in select markets. The disposition is not geographically based and will not stymie Staples' long-range plan to add 50 stores a year, Chris Maguire, president of Staubach's Retail Services division, tells GlobeSt.com. It's not a Kmart or Service Merchandise situation and definitely not a massive store closing, he emphasizes.

Maguire says interest is running high in the properties, which range from a 4,606-sf store in Elizabethtown, KY to a 46,182-sf location in Bayonet Point, FL. Ohio leads the 31-store disposition list, with four locations ticketed for shutdown. Some interest is being lobbed by the retail sector while some non-traditional users have asked about the properties. "We will take every possibility out there and explore it," Maguire says. Although inquiries are plentiful, no hard negotiations have begun. A market value analysis showed it will take 12 months to 36 months to dispose of the holdings.

Maguire says Staples toyed with outsourcing multiple contracts to brokerage houses in the target markets. In the end, the office supplier decided to sign a firm with a national presence to glean the most from the marketplace.

Staples operates more than 1,400 office superstores, mail-order catalogs, e-commerce and a contract business. Maguire says he doesn't expect more stores to be tossed onto the "to go" list. Some stores being shed, however, are Staples' 24,000-sf prototype design.