Game Plans

Jennifer LeClaire | 2/1/2007

In January, Framingham, Mass.-based Staples, the largest office products company in the U.S. with 1,800 stores and more than 36,000 employees,
announced plans to open 20 stores in south Florida by the end of this year. Staples signed up a local sports star, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, to bolster the effort.

"This is our hometown, and we are well-positioned," says Paul Larkin, Office Depot's vice president of sales for Florida. [Photo: Michael Price]

Paul Larkin, Office Depot’s regional vice president for Florida, says Office Depot won’t change its game plan in response to its rival’s incursion on its home turf. Based in Delray Beach, Office Depot is the second-largest U.S. office supply retailer with 23,500 employees and 1,071 stores nationwide, including 52 south Florida stores. Larkin says Office Depot won’t use celebrity endorsements and will stick to the fundamentals that have helped it grow: Customer service and community involvement.

Staples is hoping its celebrity endorser and $155,000 in charitable contributions will win over local customers. “We have invested in Broward and Miami-Dade counties because we saw an opportunity to meet the office product needs of an area brimming with small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Staples President and CEO Mike Miles says.

Responds Larkin: “Staples isn’t the first office supply store to challenge us in south Florida. Many retailers carry office supplies, like Circuit City and Best Buy,” says Larkin. “Staples is just another competitor on the landscape. This is our hometown, and we are well-positioned.”

Seton Hall University professor and investment advisor Scott Rothbort say, “While Office Depot, perhaps, should be concerned about Staples impinging on its home turf, that is more of a local emotional issue than a business issue. Office Depot needs to now go to where Staples is or where Staples is not.”

Tags: Southeast