Staples Canada Shutters 15 Stores

Staples Canada will close 15 of its 331 stores, part of the company’s strategy to shift more business online. The retailer’s goal is to compete with retailers like Amazon and the Office Depot/OfficeMax merger.

According to Yahoo Canada Finance, a Staples Canada representative confirmed that they are guiding customers to their store locator on Staples.ca.

Staples said they have shut down 96 stores in North America in the first half of the year and plan to close about 40 more in the second half of 2014. They aim to save $250 million USD in 2014 and $500 million by the end of 2015. Toward this goal, Staples downsized and relocated many stores at the same time.

Staples CEO Ronald Sargent said slow traffic in retail is impacting many retailers. He revealed that the company’s restructuring plan is driven by the shift to online and also the decline of office supplies related to paper. Plus, evolving customer needs will decide how many of the bricks-and-mortar office supply stores should remain.

As was revealed by the company, Staple’s North American same-store sales, excluding Staples.com, dropped by 5% in the second quarter and that sales could continue to suffer this year.

Back in March, the Staples claimed, in order to cut costs and improve efficiency, it was planning to shut down approximately 225 of its estimated 1,850 stores in North America.