Where are Office Depot/Max/Staples most likely to survive at??

 

I have a question about Office Depot/OfficeMax/Staples stores?? I have been following and researching the retail market and typing in the number of locations each of these stores have and I think it is very interesting. But maddening. From what I am discovering, I can't really get a straight answer at what areas can support these stores and what areas can't. From my research, there is an Office Depot/Staples type store for every 157,000 people in the United States. But there are markets that have more people per store, such as Minnesota with 271,000 people per store, and they have still closed stores in those markets, and areas with fewer people per store such as Reno, Nevada with 6 stores in the market with 78,586 people per store still being able to stay open.

I understand the US markets are different and some areas are more suitable for these stores than others. Which brings me to what I am talking about.

Here are the markets Office Depot, Max or Staples have abandoned that fit the criteria for their average store population or even larger(the population data has come from my filtering of the US Census Bureau's 2020 or 2010 Census population data or the Demographic Statistical Atlas. This is accounting that market's maximum radius of where it draws people from):

Davis, California: with 200,000 people. The town's OfficeMax store just closed in summer 2023.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado: with 131,734 people. The town's Office Depot closed in 2020.

Houma, Louisiana: with 253,701 people. The town's Office Depot closed in 2021.

Jamestown, New York: with 176,720 people. The town's OfficeMax store closed in 2020.

Blacksburg/Christiansburg, Virginia: with 178,237 people. The town's Staples store closed in 2018, and their OfficeMax closed in 2019.

Parkersburg, West Virginia: 279,613 people. The town's Office Depot store closed in 2022.

Where they have chosen to stay open at so far (it could change) in areas that have fewer and far fewer than 157,000 people in it's catchment area or that have way more than it's population would indicate(same data sources):

Cottonwood/Sedona, Arizona: 74,472 people. The area has both an OfficeMax store in Cottonwood and a Staples store in Sedona.

Jackson, California: 68,000 people, with a Staples store.

Placerville, California: 93,000 people, with an OfficeMax store.

Sonoma, California: 41,258 people, with a Staples store.

New Iberia, Louisiana: 68,000 people, with a Office Depot store.

Ruston, Louisiana: 75,000 people, with an Office Depot store.

Bemidji, Minnesota: 102,132 people, with a OfficeMax store.

Elko, Nevada: 45,000 people, with a OfficeMax store.

The population criteria may not be enough to tell where they will stay open or close at. So I have some questions you might help me answer. What are the best conditions for a office supply store to be successful in?? Is it being in a college town?? A higher income area?? Is the presence or absence of a Best Buy, Costco, or Sam's Club a factor in where they are closing stores at or where they are staying open at?? Do you think the population per store that they can successfully operate with is more like 250,000 people?? What do you think??