Sales declined for both OfficeMax and Office Depot last year. Annual sales for Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot decreased 7 percent to $10.7 billion, while sales at Naperville, Ill.-based OfficeMax dropped 2.8 percent to $6.9 billion. In Orange County, OfficeMax has five branches, while Office Depot has 13 stores. At the end of 2012, OfficeMax had more than 900 stores in the U.S. and Mexico; Office Depot operated 1,112 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Shoppers should expect some consolidation to take place, said Lucile Faurel, assistant professor at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business, who follows mergers and acquisitions. "In a merger, the number of stores in the portfolio increases," Faurel said. "In tight economic conditions, the firms make decisions as to where to save costs. The lesser-performing stores are going to go." Closures also are likely when there's "redundancy in offerings" – when two or more stores are located too close to each other, she said.