
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992                   TAG: 9203260059
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OW MERGES WITH KMART SUBSIDIARY

OW Office Warehouse Inc., a 46-store office products chain with a location in Roanoke, said Wednesday it has agreed to be acquired in a cash merger with competitor OfficeMax Inc. of Cleveland. OfficeMax is 93 percent owned by Kmart Corp.

OW Office Warehouse, based in Virginia Beach, was founded in 1988 by Bernard Kossar, chairman and chief executive officer. It has stores in 25 markets in 12 states.

Kossar, who owns shares with a majority of the company's voting rights, has agreed to vote his shares in favor of the merger, which allows shareholders $11 per share in cash.

OfficeMax operates about 85 superstores in 38 markets in 17 states, from Boston to Salt Lake City. Most of its stores are in the Midwest.

As part of the agreement, the OW name will be dropped and its stores converted to an OfficeMax format, said Michael Feuer, president of OfficeMax. The two chains carry similar merchandise, so the format mainly means a new color scheme, he said.

Feuer said the acquisition is to be completed in June and the changeover will begin immediately after that. He said there might be some expansion in the Roanoke area.

Kmart's stock closed Wednesday down 7/8 at 53. OW Office rose 1[ at 10 5/8.

by CNB