Industry Retail Defunct 2005 Successor Staples Parent organization Globus | Fate Acquired Founded 1989 Ceased operations 2005 | |
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Former type Private company, Subsidiary Products Office Supplies
Computing
General Stationery | ||
Office World plc, was a chain of British office superstores, which ceased trading in 2005, after administration and a company buy-out. In March 2004, the company was brought out by world leading office superstores, Staples UK, who sold off all the assets and stock in stores, until Office World became a dormant brand. The Office World brand, assets and stores were sold to Staples UK, for the sum of £32.5M.
After the acquisition by Staples, very few Office World stores were converted into Staples, as there were already Staples stores near to the dormant Office World Stores. Many of the stores were left unoccupied for many years after the closure of Office World, resulting in some job losses.
They had some rival superstores, such as Staples, Stationery Box and Ryman. For Office World to compete, they had to sell both branded products (such as Esselte and Banner) and their own brand products (such as Office Essentials and Office World).
Finally, in 2005, after Staples had sold off many of the stock and stores, the last store closed, after its last batch of office products were sold. The store ceased to trade, and it was the final store in the group. It was closed, and had the possible future of Staples. Subsequently, Office World's website did not stop until 2006, because they were trying to sell all the stock from factories, head office and distribution centres.