
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994                   TAG: 9403120052
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Lon Wagner staff writer
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OFFICE AMERICA TO CLOSE

The Office America store on Electric Road will start selling off its merchandise Monday as part of a Massachusetts office-supply chain's buyout of Richmond-based Office America.

Staples Inc., a rapidly expanding Framingham, Mass., office supply and business machine retailer, is expected to buy a half-dozen or more of the 22 Office America stores. The rest of the stores likely will be closed.

The Roanoke County store, west of Tanglewood Mall, probably will remain open but under a different name, said Office America spokeswoman Terri Patterson.

"That store is going to remain," Patterson said. "I don't know if it's going to be Staples or another store."

The deal between Staples and Office America is expected to be completed next week. Staples officials would not comment on the specifics of the buyout.

Jeff Farley, manager of the local Office America, said the store opened in August 1991 and employs 25 people.

"We're doing very well," Farley said. "We're hoping there'll be opportunities for everybody here, because we've got a good group of employees here."

He said the new operator, which he presumed would be Staples, is expected to take over the building and its fixtures after the inventory is liquidated.

Staples operates 238 stores in 17 states. For its fiscal year ended in January 1993, the company reported sales of $883.1 million and net income of $16.1 million.

by CNB