Santa Maria Staples Closing
The Staples Superstore in Santa Maria’s Crossroads Shopping Center is closing its doors for good next week.
“Everyone is trying to stay positive”, says Staples employee Marc Bellade, “it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Bellade is one of several employees at the big box store who’s losing his job.
“We found out about two weeks ago”, Bellade says, “they told us basically the store would be closing and it would be a gradual process of just getting rid of things and stuff like that.”
Staples is in the process of merging with Office Depot.
In Santa Maria, at least, Office Depot on Bradley Road appears to be the office supply store that will remain open.
Despite the closure of Staples, the retail landscape in Santa Maria remains vibrant.
“The signs in Santa Maria are generally pretty positive”, says Glenn Morris with the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce, “one of the measures that we track with the city is their sales tax revenue that the city collects and that number has been going up about a steady four percent increase each quarter for about the last year and a half.”
Some of the Staples employees in Santa Maria will find work at the Office Depot but most will be looking for new jobs.
“The market is so competitive with prices and what not and the internet”, Bellade says, “that was something that Staples was trying to get into but the competition is fierce.”
Most of the remaining inventory in the Santa Maria Staples has been discounted with the doors closing for good next week.
