Essendant is shutting down its corporate headquarters in Lincolnshire, eliminating 510 jobs in a move that's part of a much larger nationwide unwinding of the office supply distribution giant. The company filed a WARN notice on Aug. 3 disclosing plans to terminate 200 on-site employees and 310 remote workers who report to the Lincolnshire office, with the terminations expected to be permanent and to include no bumping rights to other positions.
Essendant's headquarters sits at 200 Tri-State International, Suite 400, in Lincolnshire, according to Essendant's own company information. As the Daily Herald reports, the company also announced layoffs of 134 employees at its Carol Stream distribution center, and none of the affected workers are represented by a labor union or other collective bargaining representative. Essendant notified local, county and state officials of the pending action in August, and employees were told their terminations would take effect on Oct. 3 or within 14 days after.
The Illinois closures are just one piece of a sweeping restructuring. Essendant's August 2026 state WARN filings disclosed a total of 1,278 job eliminations across six states, with Illinois absorbing 644 positions — slightly over half of the company's total planned workforce cuts, according to Distribution Strategy Group. The same filings detail job cuts in five other states: 192 in Suwanee, Georgia; 150 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; 136 in Irving, Texas; 99 in Sacramento, California; and 53 in Phoenix, Arizona, all sharing an effective layoff date of Oct. 3.
A Trail of Layoffs Before the August Filings
The Lincolnshire and Carol Stream cuts weren't Essendant's first sign of trouble. Prior to the multi-state August WARN notices, the company laid off 146 employees at its Perris, California distribution facility at the end of December 2025, with that layoff notice filed with state regulators in September 2025, per the Law Offices of Justin Silverman. Sources familiar with the situation say hundreds of Essendant employees were also dismissed in late August, according to the Chicago Tribune's reporting.
The company had also been quietly reshaping its business model well before the layoffs began piling up. In October 2025, Essendant notified customers of plans to wind down its traditional office products business in favor of janitorial, foodservice and technology logistics. Essendant had explored the potential sale of some company assets and operations, as well as efforts to secure capital, in hopes of avoiding full liquidation, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Illinois Labor Officials and Lawyers Circle
The scale and timing of the layoffs have drawn scrutiny from both regulators and plaintiffs' attorneys. The Illinois Department of Labor confirmed it received a complaint about Essendant and has an ongoing investigation, according to Paul Cicchini, the department's public information officer, speaking to the Daily Herald. Illinois' WARN Act requires businesses with 75 or more full-time employees to provide 60 days' advance written notice of planned layoffs, and a violation can make an employer liable for up to 60 days of back pay and benefits, plus a civil penalty of up to $500 per day.
The state's investigation is ongoing. Separately, the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act is part of the legal context surrounding the 510 Lincolnshire workers.
From a 1922 Startup to a Private Equity-Owned Giant
Essendant's roots stretch back over a century. The company was incorporated as Utility Supply Company in 1922, began operating exclusively as an office products wholesaler in 1978, and made a series of acquisitions from the 1990s through 2014 before adopting the Essendant name in 2015. It opened its first retail store and published its first office products catalog in 1937, and operated for decades as United Stationers Inc.
Private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquired Essendant for approximately $996 million in January 2019, folding its operations into the same corporate umbrella as office supply giant Staples, which Sycamore had purchased for $6.9 billion in 2017, according to Retail Dive. When approving that deal, the Federal Trade Commission required a consent order creating a firewall between Staples and Essendant.
Now, Essendant is expected to cease operations and permanently close the Lincolnshire facility altogether, according to the Chicago Tribune, which attributed that expectation to Essendant's filing. The unraveling comes as Essendant pursues strategic pivots in the wholesale distribution industry.
