Staples has reached a deal to buy Office Depot, news sources are reporting this morning.
Breaking: Staples to buy rival Office Depot for $6.3 billion http://t.co/jenkULbyz4
— TIME.com (@TIME) February 4, 2015It’s a move that comes barely a year after Office Depot bought OfficeMax, so now the three large-format U.S. office supply chains will collapse into one — albeit a smaller chain and one that has a good chance of surviving. Consolidation is one of the surest measures of a declining sector, but you didn’t need consolidation to discover that office supplies were a declining category. With more computer documents viewed on-screen and fewer printed, there is not much need for paper, ink, and the related supplies that define the office-supply category. All three chains were in the process of closing stores, and that is a process that will have to continue.
