The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Talk About Tulsa => Development & New Businesses => Topic started by: Markk on December 14, 2005, 11:43:31 AM

Title: Office Depot
Post by: Markk on December 14, 2005, 11:43:31 AM
Kudos for the stone wall the Depot gave us along Peoria south of 15th.

That is sarcasm.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Townsend on May 06, 2014, 10:12:07 AM
Office Depot To Close 400 Stores

http://kwgs.com/post/office-depot-close-400-stores (http://kwgs.com/post/office-depot-close-400-stores)

QuoteThe company announced on Tuesday that it is shutting more than a third of its domestic locations. The company posted a loss for the first quarter and hopes to turn a profit by next year.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: SXSW on May 06, 2014, 07:50:41 PM
If the one at 15th & Lewis did close, it would be the perfect size for conversion to a Trader Joe's.   :)
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 06, 2014, 08:51:54 PM
I'm feeling giddy. This is one awful company. Too bad for the lower level employees but they can find jobs at that payscale anywhere and take solace that they no longer enable evil management.

Horribly designed building with an empty parking lot on its backside, extremely small receiving area and cinderblock construction. I hope someone with an appreciation of the desirability of the neighborhood moves in. Not like the Allstate insurance guy across 15th that cut out two huge trees so he could highlight his poor taste and huge parking lot. Schmuck.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: nathanm on May 06, 2014, 09:04:07 PM
Quote from: AquaMan on May 06, 2014, 08:51:54 PM
Not like the Allstate insurance guy across 15th that cut out two huge trees so he could highlight his poor taste and huge parking lot. Schmuck.

State Farm. And the tree between his drive and Walgreens was a hazard to traffic.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: sgrizzle on May 06, 2014, 10:10:17 PM
Apparently buying out your failing competition doesn't make for success.

Staples is killing it with their online orders and free delivery to business programs.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Conan71 on May 06, 2014, 10:11:45 PM
Quote from: AquaMan on May 06, 2014, 08:51:54 PM
I'm feeling giddy. This is one awful company. Too bad for the lower level employees but they can find jobs at that payscale anywhere and take solace that they no longer enable evil management.

Horribly designed building with an empty parking lot on its backside, extremely small receiving area and cinderblock construction. I hope someone with an appreciation of the desirability of the neighborhood moves in. Not like the Allstate insurance guy across 15th that cut out two huge trees so he could highlight his poor taste and huge parking lot. Schmuck.

Wasn't that a re-purposed Homeland/Safeway rather than a complete knock-down and re-build?

That's the incongruity of that intersection: The Lowes/Delman development would have been neat re-purposed rather than a knockdown for Walgreens, AT&T/Blockbuster, et. al.  Where the old Safeway architecture was ripe for a complete tear down.  Tsk Tsk.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 08:44:46 AM
Quote from: nathanm on May 06, 2014, 09:04:07 PM
State Farm. And the tree between his drive and Walgreens was a hazard to traffic.
Some hazard. Drove around it for forty years without a problem and never saw anaccident in the three years I worked across the street from it.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 08:49:34 AM
Quote from: Conan71 on May 06, 2014, 10:11:45 PM
Wasn't that a re-purposed Homeland/Safeway rather than a complete knock-down and re-build?

That's the incongruity of that intersection: The Lowes/Delman development would have been neat re-purposed rather than a knockdown for Walgreens, AT&T/Blockbuster, et. al.  Where the old Safeway architecture was ripe for a complete tear down.  Tsk Tsk.
Nah. It was a knockdown. I opened the store. Designed by the manager. They had much successwhen they followed the model of using old Safeway's to keep overhead low and prices too. Then they got the suburban fever and brought it into an old area.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: BKDotCom on May 07, 2014, 09:03:35 AM
Quote from: sgrizzle on May 06, 2014, 10:10:17 PM
Staples is killing it with their online orders and free delivery to business programs.

How quickly we forget

March 2014:  Staples to shutter up to 225 stores

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/03/07/staples-close-north-america-stores/LpoUGvzIm5uFAmFNFpm7jM/story.html
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: swake on May 07, 2014, 09:17:49 AM
Lots of retail space opening up in this country.

Dead and Dying:
Music stores, toy stores, electronic stores, book stores, video rental stores, newspapers, and now office supply stores.

Next up. Grocery Stores. Will Amazon Fresh and Google Shopping Express kill grocery stores, at least as we know them today? WWWMD?

What will Wal-Mart do?
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 09:35:48 AM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 09:17:49 AM

What will Wal-Mart do?


Litter suburbs with empty unusable 102,000 square foot shells.

Is Lazer tag still a thing?
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: rebound on May 07, 2014, 09:35:55 AM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 09:17:49 AM
Next up. Grocery Stores. Will Amazon Fresh and Google Shopping Express kill grocery stores, at least as we know them today? WWWMD?
What will Wal-Mart do?

I was part of a Omni-Channel Retail panel a week ago in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, and several of the questions related to Grocery and whether the Amazon and Google grocery ventures (and in general, home grocery delivery) will pan out.  It has already basically failed once about 15 years ago, and the general consensus among the panel was that it will be a mixed bag (pun intended) this time.  Unlike Clothing and other consumer goods, Grocery margins are notoriously slim.  Adding a delivery cost (whether charged to the customer or absorbed in operations) is a tough long-term hurdle in Grocery.  But in densely populated areas the combination of high volumes and much smaller distribution areas will probably allow for success.  The greater travel distances and lower density (and lifestyle differences) of suburban and rural customers will make this a much harder profit model in those areas.  
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Ibanez on May 07, 2014, 09:58:05 AM
Home grocery deliver is something I just can't see myself ever using. Well maybe when I get into my 80's, but now? No thanks. I prefer to go to the store myself and pick out my veggies and meat. No way in hell I would leave that up to someone else.

Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 10:24:41 AM
Quote from: Ibanez on May 07, 2014, 09:58:05 AM
Home grocery deliver is something I just can't see myself ever using. Well maybe when I get into my 80's, but now? No thanks. I prefer to go to the store myself and pick out my veggies and meat. No way in hell I would leave that up to someone else.


Gave that 3 shots at Reasor's.  No normal person would've picked the produce they decided was fit to bag up for me.  The frozen food was left out to thaw.

I can see it working for the rest of the groceries but not for produce, meat, or frozen foods...

so if you eat all dried goods and cans...you're good to go.

Wine, beer and bourbon...that's the delivery we need here.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 10:25:18 AM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 09:17:49 AM
Lots of retail space opening up in this country.

Dead and Dying:
Music stores, toy stores, electronic stores, book stores, video rental stores, newspapers, and now office supply stores.

Next up. Grocery Stores. Will Amazon Fresh and Google Shopping Express kill grocery stores, at least as we know them today? WWWMD?

What will Wal-Mart do?


The Office Depot life cycle was interesting to watch. I handled the advertising account for the World when they first arrived in Tulsa back in the 80's. They saw that the office supply business was basically neighborhood store fronts or small buildings located in high density office areas that provided basic supplies but ordered most stuff for delivery from manufacturer catalogs. Dukes was an example.

Two guys in Florida thought the industry was ripe for exploiting with the warehouse concept of retailing that was then hot. Starting on a shoestring they used abandoned Safeway buildings because of the good site locations and low cost conversions. It was sort of the general store for office supplies and worked quite well and they expanded.

Jump forward 20 years and the wheel of retailing had turned back to where it originally had been and I started working in one of their stores. They were now getting away from their successful model and had jettisoned the founders. They had designed their own (high overhead) buildings in several versions and put them in high cost shopping centers and stand alone sites. Merchandising suffered from a lack of accurate customer identification. Our store at 15th and Lewis was called a "north" store and was stocked as such even though they resided in a very high demographic area filled with self employed, home office customers.

They now saw themselves as leaders in electronics, printing, and RTA furniture. All stuff easily purchased online or at specialists. They have been failing to meet goals since at least the last seven years and routinely blame it on low level staff who they mistreat and underpay. Those employees in turn stole from them and abused them. Their idea of quality managers was hiring ex-Sears, K-mart and cell phone company managers. One decent manager in the entire Tulsa system. Check their employee remarks online. Morons with a whip. One electronics dept. manager was a former truck driver for the company. Heavy pressure to sell electronics and warranties in any way possible.

I set records for furniture sales for the whole region which meant of course, they wanted me to sell electronics which I knew or cared, nothing about. I loved meeting many of the long time movers and shakers in the city who came there to shop. Mayors, council members, Beryl Ford, Helmerich, nearby TU professors, and a host of eccentric businessmen and lawyers. They fired me because I refused to let a manager yell at me in front of customers for not immediately answering her radio. The only tarnish on my employment career.

F them.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: swake on May 07, 2014, 11:07:27 AM
Quote from: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 10:24:41 AM

Wine, beer and bourbon...that's the delivery we need here.

Sinner.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 12:00:02 PM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 11:07:27 AM
Sinner.

Busted
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: nathanm on May 07, 2014, 12:05:21 PM
Quote from: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 08:44:46 AM
Some hazard. Drove around it for forty years without a problem and never saw anaccident in the three years I worked across the street from it.

Having occasion to be at that Walgreen's a couple times a month, I have seen a fair number of people nearly kill themselves or others making what was a blind left due to the tree. Combined with the hill limiting sight lines for traffic eastbound, it should have gone a long time ago. The other tree was fine in that respect, unless maybe it was causing trouble when exiting the insurance agent's parking lot. They were both half rotten, just not dead yet. Even on Street View you can see the enormous holes that both of them had.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 12:25:52 PM
Yeah. That's always the explanation, the (tree, apts, house, car, neighborhood) was (rotting, a pos, a traffic hazard, a blight on the area) and needs to be (razed, brought up to modern standards, removed). Then one day you drive by a lovely neighborhood and it looks like a bleak, treeless ghetto of lighted insurance companies, cell phone stores, fast food and nail salons.

Here's a thought. Don't build so that your customers have to turn left into an already crowded intersection. Build so that the parking lots are in the back and pedestrians can enter from the front and drivers from the rear. Require new retail in old areas to replace or renew landscaping to match existing styles including trees.

Wait. I just described the area before Walgreens, Office Depot and Albertsons(Reesors) moved in.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Red Arrow on May 07, 2014, 12:37:55 PM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 11:07:27 AM
Sinner.

Only because of his limited choice of liquor.  He should have included Tequila, Scotch, Rum and (although I don't care for it) Gin.
:D
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 12:42:09 PM
And Rye. Can't have a decent old fashioned without it.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: nathanm on May 07, 2014, 01:11:13 PM
Quote from: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 12:25:52 PM
Here's a thought. Don't build so that your customers have to turn left into an already crowded intersection. Build so that the parking lots are in the back and pedestrians can enter from the front and drivers from the rear. Require new retail in old areas to replace or renew landscaping to match existing styles including trees.

Wait. I just described the area before Walgreens, Office Depot and Albertsons(Reesors) moved in.

Don't disagree with this, just disagree with leaving hazards in place once the stupid decision to put a drive there had already been taken.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: RecycleMichael on May 07, 2014, 01:13:11 PM
I live near the Office Depot at 51st and Memorial. It is nice to have a store nearby that has me as the only customer. There is plenty of help and never a line at checkout.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Conan71 on May 07, 2014, 01:48:30 PM
Quote from: RecycleMichael on May 07, 2014, 01:13:11 PM
I live near the Office Depot at 51st and Memorial. It is nice to have a store nearby that has me as the only customer. There is plenty of help and never a line at checkout.

Surprised there haven't been any takers on the old Albertson's space since smile Pyramid moved out.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: swake on May 07, 2014, 02:00:13 PM
Quote from: Conan71 on May 07, 2014, 01:48:30 PM
Surprised there haven't been any takers on the old Albertson's space since smile Pyramid moved out.

I bet that is a really high theft location. All those apartments across 51st are really rough.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Hoss on May 07, 2014, 02:06:44 PM
Quote from: Conan71 on May 07, 2014, 01:48:30 PM
Surprised there haven't been any takers on the old Albertson's space since smile Pyramid moved out.

I thought a gym was moving into that location?
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: DolfanBob on May 07, 2014, 02:44:44 PM
Quote from: AquaMan on May 07, 2014, 12:42:09 PM
And Rye. Can't have a decent old fashioned without it.

The drink of Thurston Howell the 3rd. I can still hear the way he said Old Fashioned.  :D
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Conan71 on May 07, 2014, 03:04:18 PM
Quote from: swake on May 07, 2014, 02:00:13 PM
I bet that is a really high theft location. All those apartments across 51st are really rough.

They were a little sketchy when I lived in RM's neighborhood 20 years ago, but I don't recall the Albertson's as being over-run with refugees from the apartments.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: sgrizzle on May 07, 2014, 03:40:08 PM
Quote from: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 09:35:48 AM
Litter suburbs with empty unusable 102,000 square foot shells.

Is Lazer tag still a thing?

Trampoline parks are it now. We just got like 4 of them in Tulsa.
Title: Re: Office Depot
Post by: Townsend on May 07, 2014, 04:02:18 PM
Quote from: sgrizzle on May 07, 2014, 03:40:08 PM
Trampoline parks are it now. We just got like 4 of them in Tulsa.

With frickin laser beams?