Dive Brief:

• Office Depot posted an unexpected Q1 profit, but sales fell 11%, to $3.88 billion from $4.35 billion, and more than analysts had predicted.

• The office-supply retailer said it would close 135 stores this year—it has already closed 20 in Q1—and at least another 100 in 2016.

• The retailer awaits a Federal Trade Commission decision on a proposed merger with rival Staples, which is expected despite being denied years ago. The FTC requested more information from the companies in March.

Dive Insight:

Looks like store closures in Q1 may have saved Office Depot money, but hurt sales. That’s going to be the story for a while for this retailer, which says it plans more closings this year and next.

That could help its proposed deal to merge with Staples. Although the FTC objected to that idea years ago, worried that the two coming together would stifle competition, things have changed. Not even Office Depot’s previous merger with OfficeMax has done much to soften the downturn in office-supply retail, which has felt the impact of e-commerce and of general-merchandise stores selling similar products.