OFFICE MAX IN Marquette will be closing up shop by mid-November, according to employees.
Reportedly the lease on the property is up, and the business will not be relocating. The company is now working to either transfer employees to other locations or to help them find other jobs locally.
OfficeMax has been advising its business customers to take care of major printing jobs before the store closes down.
No word on whether there are any plans for the property once OfficeMax leaves.
OfficeMax is owned by Office Depot, based in Boca Raton, Florida. The two businesses merged six years ago to become the largest office supplies company in the U.S. but it’s been experiencing financial difficulties.
In 2016, the company announced a three year plan to close 300 stores. Then, just last May, it announced the closure of 50 stores under both the Office Depot and OfficeMax brand; Marquette was not on that list.
But now it is, along with seven other stores in the region, according to an employee.
The closure will leave a void for those of us seeking office equipment and supplies in the Marquette area. The store has never seemed particularly busy but business had been steady.
OfficeMax is located on a property with an enormous and much under utilized parking lot, right next to the recently abandoned Shopko property, also with an enormous parking lot.
That’s a lot of acreage near the western edge of Marquette, five minutes from the heart of downtown. Thousands of cars pass by daily.
You’d think some developers might take notice of that.