Staples Inc.
Staples Inc. is an American office supply retail company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Founded by Leo Kahn and Thomas G. Stemberg, the company opened its first store in Brighton, Massachusetts, on May 1, 1986. By 1996, it reached the Fortune 500, and it later acquired the office supplies company Quill Corporation. In 2014, in the wake of increasing competition from e-commerce market, Staples began to close some locations. In 2015, Staples announced its intent to acquire Office Depot and OfficeMax. However, the purchase was blocked under antitrust grounds due to the consolidation that would result.
After the failed acquisition, Staples refocused its operations to downplay its brick-and-mortar outlets and place more prominence on business-to-business services. In 2017, after its sale to Sycamore Partners, the company was effectively split into three "independently managed and capitalized" entities sharing the Staples name, separating its U.S. retail operations, and Canadian retail operations, from the B2B business.
History
Staples was founded by Leo Kahn and Thomas G. Stemberg, who were former rivals in the New England retail supermarket industry, and Myra Hart.The idea for Staples originated in 1985, while Stemberg was working on a proposal for a different business. He needed a ribbon for his printer, but could not obtain one because his local dealer was closed for the Independence Day holiday. A frustration with the reliance on small stores for critical supplies combined with Stemberg's background in the grocery business led to a vision for an office supply superstore.
The first store was opened in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston in 1986. Staples started with backing from private equity firms including Bain Capital; Bain co-founder Mitt Romney served on the company's board of directors for the next fifteen years, helping shape their business model.
In 1991, Staples founded its Canadian subsidiary, the Business Depot, and began opening stores under that name, though over a decade later, all stores were renamed as "Staples". The first store opened in Vaughan, Ontario, north of Toronto. The following year, Staples began expanding into Europe, and opened its first British store in Swansea.
On September 4, 1996, Staples and Office Depot announced plans to merge. The Federal Trade Commission determined that the merged company would unfairly increase office supply prices despite competition from OfficeMax, because OfficeMax had no stores in many local markets the merger would affect. Staples argued that chains such as Walmart and Circuit City represented significant competition, but this argument did little to sway the FTC. Following the denial of the merger by the FTC, a rivalry formed between the two companies.
Staples acquired the naming rights for the Staples Center in Los Angeles shortly before construction began in 1998. Staples also acquired Quill Corporation, an online and catalog retailer of office supplies, for about $685 million in cash and stock. Between 1999 and 2001, Staples unsuccessfully attempted to enter the telecommunications business when it created Staples Communications after the purchase of Canada-based company Claricom from an investment group. The company was later sold to Platinum Equities and renamed NextiraOne.
In 2002, Staples acquired Medical Arts Press, which became a subsidiary of Quill.
In March 2005, Staples and Ahold announced a plan to include a Staples-branded store-within-store section in all Stop & Shop Supermarkets and Giant Food stores throughout the Northeast. In August 2006, Ahold announced the addition of the Staples section to all Tops Friendly Markets locations as well.
In 2008, Staples acquired Dutch office supplies company Corporate Express, one of the largest office supply wholesalers in the world.
On August 26, 2025, Staples announced its partnership with Now Optics to open full-service eye care offices in select locations inside Staples stores. The first few locations are set to be open during the fourth quarter of 2025 in Pennsylvania.
Attempted merger with Office Depot; sale of UK division
On March 6, 2014, Staples announced it would close up to 225 stores in North America by the end of 2015, in order to cut $500 million in costs annually, and focus more on e-commerce.On February 4, 2015, Staples announced a plan to once again acquire Office Depot, which itself had recently acquired OfficeMax in a bid to compete against Staples. CEO Ron Sargent stated that this purchase would " Staples to provide more value to customers, and more effectively compete in a rapidly evolving competitive environment", and would result in at least $1 billion in "cost synergies" within three years.
It was reported that the deal could face antitrust scrutiny for its monopolization of the office supply market unless growing competition against online retailers is considered a factor as well. In December, the FTC filed a lawsuit to halt the merger, arguing it would harm competition in the commercial office supply market. and as of January 2016, the FTC has not changed its stance.
At the end of January 2016, Staples announced it would lay off hundreds of workers at its headquarters. Some analysts saw the layoffs as a preemptive tactic in case the merger did not receive regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission. On May 10, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FTC a preliminary injunction against the merger. As a result, the sale was called off, and Staples was required to pay a $250 million breakup fee.
In November 2016, it was announced that Staples had sold its 106 British stores to Hilco Capital for a "nominal" amount, as part of an effort to streamline its international operations following the failed merger. Hilco stated that it would discontinue the Staples brand in the region; the stores were rebranded as "Office Outlet", a new brand retaining the Staples chain's red and white color scheme. In August 2018, the chain closed some stores under a company voluntary arrangement, and underwent a management buyout the following month. In March 2019, Office Outlet went into administration, citing that it had "recently experienced a reduction in credit from key suppliers, given the economic outlook which has severely impacted the financial position of the company."
Pivot to B2B and sale to Sycamore Partners
Following the aborted acquisition of Office Depot, Staples began to reposition its operations by promoting itself as a "solutions partner" for the business market, and placing a stronger focus on its B2B-oriented delivery and e-commerce businesses. In May 2017, the chain began a new advertising campaign with the slogan "It's Pro Time", which largely downplayed its retail operations.In 2017, Sycamore Partners acquired Staples for $6.9 billion, of which $1.6 billion was funded as equity, with the remaining deal value raised as debt. As part of the purchase, Sycamore implemented a major restructuring of the company, under which the chain's B2B business, retail locations, and Staples Canada would be split into three "independently managed and capitalized" entities under Sycamore.
On April 9, 2019, Sycamore Partners conducted a dividend recapitalization, refinancing $5.4 billion in debt against its ownership of Staples, producing a $1 billion one-time dividend for the private equity firm. A Bloomberg report on this refinancing noted that the deal allowed Sycamore to recover roughly 80% of its equity investment in Staples in less than two years, compared to the typical profit-taking exit timeframe of five to eight years for most private equity buyouts. That month, Staples also unveiled a new logo, which features an icon representing both an unused staple and an office desk. The company also announced that it would introduce a new line of store brands, including Tru Red, Coastwide Professional, NXT Technologies, Perk, and Union & Scale, as well as a new catalog known as The Loop. With the rebranding, then CEO Sandy Douglas stated that Staples was now being marketed as a "worklife fulfillment" company, which he explained was "about helping businesses of all sizes as they create the most dynamic and productive work environments for their teams."
The following month, CEO Mike Motz unveiled a new store concept known as "Staples Connect": it is aligned with a similar store concept being trialed by Staples Canada, featuring "Staples Studio" co-working areas and an auditorium-style "Spotlight" theater. The new concept will be trialed in the Boston area, while elements of the concept will be implemented chain-wide. As part of a partnership with radio broadcaster iHeartMedia, Staples also added recording studios intended for podcasting to six of these stores, with access to recording engineers and a partnership with Spreaker to offer discounted hosting and distribution services to its customers.
In January 2021, Staples announced that it would again try to buy Office Depot. Their offer was turned down in June 2022.
Joining several other retailers such as Kohl's and The UPS Store, in 2023 Staples began accepting returns for Amazon. Through this program, customers for Amazon can enter a Staples location and return their products and packages. Though this program has been discontinued at other retail stores due to the immense amount of strain it puts on employees, as well as a nearly complete lack of return for the hosting businesses, Staples continues to offer the service. A petition from over 5,000 Staples employees was signed asking for the company to stop the practice or to hire more workers to offset the never-ending deluge of Amazon returns, which has been described as "a retail horror story".
In addition to this, Staples also partnered with Happy Returns, Optoro's Express Returns, and UPS to offer return services for each of their online shopping merchants at Staples locations.