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Staples closed, and I want to cry

The sign on the door hit me like a ton of bricks. “Dear Customers, “On Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, this Staples location will close. We encourage you to shop with us online at www.staples.
Brian Zinchuk

The sign on the door hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Dear Customers,

“On Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, this Staples location will close. We encourage you to shop with us online at www.staples.ca, where you will continue to find a full assortment of Staples products and services. We thank you for your continued business. Sincerely, Mary Sagat, president, Staples Canada; Barb Dolski, district manager.”

I wanted to cry. Only a few minutes earlier, I had heard a rumour about the store closing. I needed to buy a USB drive, so I swung by. To my horror, it was true.

This was not unexpected, however. There were many times over the last year where I would walk into the store and I might be the only customer there. Three or four staff members would hover around, occasionally, politely, asking if they could be of assistance. Nearly always, the answer was “No,” as I probably knew the store better than some of them.

In recent years Staples had announced several rounds of store closures, prompted in large part by people ordering their office supplies online. The oil bust in Estevan over the last two years surely didn’t help matters, either.

I first experienced Staples when I moved to Saskatoon in 1993. For a nerdy kid from Yorkton, the collection of computer gear and office stuff was spectacular. Around 2006, they opened one in North Battleford, my home at the time. I was there opening day.

As a ninth-order geek, Staples has been my Mecca.

That Boxing Day, I put on my long underwear, three layers of shirts, parka and heavy gloves to sit in my cold camper van in the parking lot at 6:15 a.m.

I was not the first, if I recall. By around 7 a.m. we started lining up outside, freezing in temperatures around -20 C while making sure no one else jostled their positions. That day I picked up three laptops, one for $97, and two for $200 each, on clearance, a scanner and a printer. It was my best Boxing Day haul ever.

I wrote a story about it, and the store put it on the wall for at least a year.

In subsequent years I found the Boxing Day experience to be waning. I didn’t even go this year, because, well, there’s not much I need that I don’t have, technology-wise. How many printers do I really need? Aren’t 10 enough?

Doing my books for my photography business made me realize they were one of my prime vendors. I would spend thousands each year on photo paper and ink as well as computer hardware. My stack of Staples receipts was always thicker than fuel receipts, or anything else, for that matter.

So, I was thrilled when, a few years ago, during the height of the oil boom, a Staples opened in Estevan.

A friend who lives in Weyburn (which never did have a Staples), pointed out he uses their online ordering and shipping. When you spend a certain amount, shipping is free, and delivery tends to be quick, within a day or two.

That may be fine for him – he runs into Regina several times a month, sometimes several times a week, so if he needs something special, he can go and get it. But I get to Regina only once every several months, on average. And the stuff I require often can’t be obtained at other local stores or the local Walmart.

For instance, the other day I had the power supply die on an older desktop computer. Their local selection at Staples wasn’t much, but I got one. My confidence level on finding a similar product anywhere else in town was low, and I needed it now, not in a couple days.

Often I’ll need just little things – a few USB drives, or an ink cartridge, for instance. I loved picking through the clearance items. But these things rarely would warrant paying for shipping, nor would they be high enough in price to trigger free shipping.

The very real effect of Staples closing in Estevan is I now need to keep more things in inventory, just in case.

There will be much less casual shopping for me now, and a lot more online orders. These orders tend to be more considered, especially as shipping is an issue. I signed up for Amazon Prime, which covers shipping, so I guess we’ll see how much Staples’ closure pushes me into Amazon’s arms.

I’ll miss you, Staples. And to Todd, the former manager in North Battleford, wherever you are, I’ll miss you, too.

— Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.