Staples Inc., the Framingham, Mass.-based office-supply retail chain, says a $600,000 remodel project currently under way at its Coeur d'Alene outlet will reduce the store's size by more than a third.

The store will be reduced to 15,500 square feet of floor space in its longtime location in a retail center at 206 W. Ironwood Drive, north of downtown Coeur d'Alene, where it currently occupies 24,000 square feet of space, says David Goldman, Glendale, Ariz.-based Staples manager of retail project architecture.

Such downsizing is becoming a trend among big-box retailers, Goldman says.

"Because of consumers shopping over the Internet—and we do a tremendous amount of Internet sales—Staples is looking at reducing the size of its stores as leases come up around the country," he says.

Goldman declines to comment on the status of the portion of its current floor space that the Coeur d'Alene store plans to vacate.

Holland, Ohio-based Total Store Services Inc. is the contractor on the project, and Larry S. Shankweiler Architecture & Planning PA, of Manhattan, Kan., designed it.

"Staples is making its existing stores look similar to its new stores," Goldman says. "One of the opportunities as we downsize and remodel the store is to bring in the latest products and size everything appropriately for the new store."

Staples operates more than 2,000 stores in 26 countries, including more than 1,500 stores in the U.S., the company's website says.

"This is one of the first ones," he says of the Coeur d'Alene remodel project. "It's a very attractive store and it's going to remain that way."

Staples Issaquah, Wash.-based construction manager Don Ulvan declines to say when the project will be completed, but says the store will remain open during construction.