Staples Closing Stores as More Shoppers Head Online

Change is afoot in the retail sector as Staples on Thursday became the second national chain this week to announce store closings.

The national office supply retailer has not announced how many jobs will be lost on account of the store closings. (Flickr / Fanofretail)

The mammoth office-supply retailer said that because more than 50 percent of its sales are made online, it will close as many as 225 stores, or 10 percent of its brick-and-mortar outlets.

The closures will save $500 million by 2015, according to a statement from Staples.

On Tuesday, RadioShack said it would close up to 1,100 stores following poor sales during the holidays.

Staples management would not offer specifics about the closures, nor did the company estimate the forecasted job losses.

Staples stock fell 15 percent following the announcement.