Staples has decided to close down over 10 percent of its North American stores by end of 2015. The company has 1,846 stores at present in North America, including Canada and the U.S.

Staples is the largest company of office supplies in North America. It generates more than half of its sales online. In recent past, it has started working on cutting costs and becoming more efficient, ABC News reported.

Around 225 stores in North America are expected to be shut down, which will apparently save $550 million for the company by 2015.

The company already closed several stores in 2013. It is not willing to disclose the number of jobs that will be affected as a result of the closure nor does it elaborate specific locations of the stores to be shut down.

Blame it all on the recession which brought in heavy damages to major companies like Staples.

Major obstacles to development for these companies include online competition and discount stores. The situation is the same for any company, no matter what it sells, including books, electronics or clothes. According to Ron Sargent, CEO and chairman of Staples, the company would not shut down stores randomly. The stores have to "earn the right to stay open," he said.

What Sargent may have indicated was that the stores are going to be shut down if they fail to fulfil the number of target sales as demanded by the company.

Staples will make "tough calls" whenever it is necessary, he noted. This may mean that the stores will have to focus more on how they can improve the sales. Otherwise, they will be ruthlessly axed.

North American companies have apparently been suffering due to various reasons. Only a couple of days back, RadioShack announced it would shut down about 1,100 stores. The reason cited by the company was a depressing holiday season.

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