Why This Matters to Distributors: Essendant is eliminating 531 jobs in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and Arizona, extending a restructuring into four states with markets the company identified less than a year ago as part of its smaller six-hub distribution network.
Essendant is eliminating 531 jobs across four states as the wholesale distributor further restructures a national distribution network it reorganized less than a year ago.
WARN records show Essendant-related actions affecting 192 employees in Georgia, 150 in Pennsylvania, 136 in Texas and 53 in Arizona.
The cuts are notable because they reach four states with markets Essendant identified in 2025 as part of the six-hub distribution network at the center of what the company called its New Way Forward strategy.
In a significant disclosure contained in its Pennsylvania WARN notice, Essendant said it is exploring strategic alternatives, including potential sales of certain assets and operations, while seeking additional capital to avoid liquidation. The company said it does not know whether those efforts will succeed and currently expects to cease operations and close its business, including permanently closing its Oaks facility in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The Aug. 3 notice was signed by Marcela Sztainberg, Essendant’s senior vice president of human resources.
In Georgia, Essendant is permanently closing its operation at 125 Horizon Drive in Suwanee, affecting 192 employees, according to WARN records.
In Pennsylvania, Essendant Management Services LLC plans to close its facility at 125 Green Tree Road in Phoenixville, affecting 150 employees effective Oct. 3, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. The state classifies the action as a closure.
Essendant also filed a WARN notice in Texas affecting 136 employees in Irving.
In Arizona, an Aug. 4 WARN notice covers 53 employees at Essendant’s operation at 1500 S. 71st Ave. in Phoenix.
Combined, the four actions affect 531 employees.
The latest cuts come in less than a year after Essendant announced a major overhaul of its distribution network and product strategy.
In October 2025, Essendant said it was restructuring its distribution network around six hubs in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Oaks, Pennsylvania, Phoenix and Sacramento, California.
The company said the network would span more than 2 million square feet and provide one- to two-day delivery to more than 98% of U.S. customers.
Essendant said concentrating inventory in the six hubs would improve product availability, reduce split shipments, and make its distribution network more efficient.
The latest WARN actions do not establish that Essendant is closing all four hubs associated with the affected states.
The Pennsylvania filing confirms a facility closure, while the Georgia WARN record identifies the Suwanee action as a permanent closure. The Texas and Arizona WARN records confirm job cuts at Essendant operations in Irving and Phoenix.
Essendant has not publicly detailed how the latest actions will affect the six-hub network it outlined last year.
What is clear is that the restructuring now extends beyond the eight facilities Essendant originally identified for consolidation in 2025.
As part of its New Way Forward plan, Essendant said Nov. 6, 2025, would be the final day customers could place orders through eight facilities: Seattle; Eagan, Minnesota; Charlotte, North Carolina; Albany, New York; Salt Lake City; Nashville, Tennessee; Houston; and St. Louis.
Customers and inventory were shifted to other facilities as part of the consolidation.
Essendant also overhauled parts of its transportation network. The company said it would use Hub Group for managed transportation services, providing access to Hub Group’s nationwide truckload network and more than 200 final-mile facilities.
Essendant also named UPS as a parcel-delivery partner.
At the time, the company described the changes as part of an effort to build a smaller and more efficient distribution network.
The latest WARN filings show that the restructuring has since expanded into Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and Arizona — states containing four of the markets Essendant identified as part of its remaining six-hub footprint.
The network changes accompanied a broader shift in Essendant’s product strategy.
Essendant said in 2025 that it was moving away from the traditional office-products business and concentrating more heavily on JanSan, foodservice and technology, while continuing to carry a limited assortment of office products.
That marked a notable change for a company that spent decades as one of the country’s largest wholesale distributors of office and workplace products.
Essendant traces its history to 1922. The company operated for decades as United Stationers before changing its name to Essendant in 2015.
Its business historically included office products and furniture, janitorial and sanitation products, breakroom supplies, technology products, and other workplace products.
Essendant is privately held.
A Sycamore Partners affiliate acquired Essendant in January 2019 in a transaction involving Staples Inc., another Sycamore portfolio company.
The Federal Trade Commission imposed conditions on the transaction because Staples competed with independent resellers that purchased products from Essendant.
The FTC required a firewall separating Staples’ business-to-business sales operations from Essendant’s wholesale business to prevent Staples from gaining access to commercially sensitive information about Essendant customers.
Essendant today continues to describe itself as a provider of wholesale distribution and fulfillment services connecting resellers, retailers, manufacturers, and brands with customers.
Its website continues to promote its distribution, logistics and fulfillment capabilities.
The size and configuration of that network, however, are increasingly unclear.
Less than a year after Essendant identified Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Oaks, Phoenix, and Sacramento as the foundation of its restructured distribution network, WARN actions are affecting 531 employees across four states associated with that footprint.
The filings do not establish that Essendant is shutting down companywide or liquidating its remaining operations. They do show that the restructuring has moved into another significant phase, including confirmed facility closures in Pennsylvania and Georgia.
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