Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Office Depot Closes Winnipeg Stores

There are no no Office Depot stores in Canada. Now they are all closing including the two in Winnipeg.

There is one on Ness Avenue in the Madison Square parking lot and one on Pembina Highway. It would appear that Staples will have the big box market to itself in Winnipeg. The Free Press says that Office Depot had a presence since 1992 in Canada. However, the Office Depot location at Madison took over when Toy City ended in 1991.

I can't recall it being anything else other than an Office Depot ever since Toy City closed. It is interesting to note that Office Depot has not outlasted Sportsman Marine which refused to be bought out and was bullied for years by security to give up their spot in the Office Depot parking lot.

11 comments:

reedsolomon.matr1x at gmail.com said...

Staples wins the war.

Still most businesses just get stuff delivered from Grand and Toy or some other non retail entity.

Still, kind of sad. I almost bought something from Office Depot a couple of times.

Anonymous said...

I always preferred Office Depot to Staples, I'll have to stock up on my favorite pens.
I can't stand Sportsman Marine, always found them rude, arrogant and over priced.

One Man Committee said...

As a child of the 80s, I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that the Office Depot on Madison used to be a Toy City outlet.

Anonymous said...

I think you need to do your research. The Office Depot location was a Toy City outlet and before that it was Consumers Distributing store. Going to greatly miss Office Depot.

John Dobbin said...

Reed: I have seen many empty Office Depots over the years in the U.S. The Canadian locations just seemed to trundle along.

Anon 1: I generally shop at Staples too. Never went to Sportsman Marine.

OMC: Quite right. I never went into the old Toy City location but you're right, it was the original business in the blue building in 1987.

Anon: You're right that I needed to look more closely about the original business. However, one thing I can say for certain is that Consumers Distributing was in the northwest corner of Madison Square between A&A Records and Bonanza.

That whole are is now Safeway.

Winnipeg Girl said...

Oh Bonanza! I feel full thinking about you, mmmm.... self-serve ice cream station with sprinkles. Consumers Distributing? Don't worry I couldn't forget you either, I mean, if not for you how would I have ever owned my Atari 2600?

Anonymous said...

I went in there today to buy some cheap ink and was disappointed to see that most things were only marked down 10%. Lots of people wandering around but nobody at the tills.

Anonymous said...

I am highly annoyed that this location is shutting down. It was infinitely more accessible for me, as a denizen of River Heights, and I was always got prompt service. Blah.

Anonymous said...

I am highly annoyed that this location is shutting down. It was infinitely more accessible for me, as a denizen of River Heights, and I was always got prompt service. Blah.

Anonymous said...

I would like to share my recent experience with office depot closing. I bought an office chair a few days ago when knowing everything is on sale since the store is closing. Even though it is a brand new chair, I found the handler is broken after I opened the box. I went to the store to return it and was told it was final sale so I cannot. I admitted I made a mistake that I did not pay attention to the receipt as I always shop there and trusted them. Cashier did not say anything either when I paid for the chair. I was a bit upset and tried to talk to the lady that was talking to me. But she did not care and just told me you could order the part on line. After being a loyal and good customer for this store for many years, I thought at least I could talk to them. However, they did not care. I then tried to tell other customers to be careful and check the stuff they buy before they pay so they will not make the mistake I made. An office depot guy came to me and asked me to get out of the office depot or he will call police. I went out and thought I should try to let other customer know and be aware so I told arriving customers it is final sale and check it out. The manager came out and threatened me to get out of his property or he will call police. I asked him if we can talk, he said no and turned around.
This is how they treated a customer that has been shopping in their store for many years and have trust in them. Just because the store is closing, it does not mean you shall treat your past customers as garbage and threw them out as they think they do not need you anymore. For me, it is not much loss, I just left the chair there as I do not wan to recall how badly these people behaved. I did not expect to get a refund or other compensation when I was told it was final sale because I did not pay enough attention. I just hoped the anyone in the store could be nice and explained this to me, or at least improve their service so other customer would not repeat mistake I made. However, they were trying to cover things up so they could fool more customers. I feel so sorry that the store is closing and people are losing jobs. However, no matter what happens, they shall still be reasonable and help customers. Isn't that right? Otherwise, how could they serve customers and how could customers trust your business in the future? I hope my experience can raise some attention to the customers who plan to go office depot as they may be treated as me. And believe, nobody wants that kind of experience when you are a customer.

Brock said...

Try dealing with a locally owned and operated business, like BROCK'S OFFICE. Winnipeg's newest office supply company! As part of a national buying group they are as competitive as Staples and Depot. the big difference is, they want to talk to you, they want to make sure you are satisfied. Your business really is important to them. Talk about making things Easy. Give them a try and see how hard they will work to earn your business.