Staples history

In June 1987 Staples made its first foray into the New York market, opening a store in Port Chester.

Staples began work on its 136,000-square-foot processing and distribution center in Putnam, Connecticut, in 1987.

Charm, Robert E., “Thomas G. Stemberg of Staples, Inc., New England Business, May 2, 1988.

In the winter of 1988, Staples stepped up its marketing efforts by sending potential customers a special catalog, with a coupon promising a free pen and pencil set with a purchase of $10 or more.

The number of Staples stores had grown to 23 by the beginning of 1989.

1989: Company raises $37 million through an initial public offering.

1990: First stores in California are opened.

Also in 1996, Staples bought out its partner in the U.K. and German ventures, Kingfisher, in a £29.4 million deal.

stemberg, thomas g. staples for success. santa monica, ca: knowledge exchange, 1996.

During 1997 the company opened 128 new stores in North America, bringing its store total to more than 740.

Quill, which had 1997 revenues of $555 million, continued to operate independently as a Staples subsidiary.

Although Staples plans to maintain and perhaps to expand its international operations, those operations were unprofitable as of 1997 and company management was not overly optimistic about their future.

Staples, Inc. is one of the world's largest office superstore operators with about 780 stores as of mid-1998.

In 1998 Staples bought Quill, a privately held company, for $685 million in order to expand its direct-sales business.

In the fall of 1999 Staples created a tracking stock for its Internet operations and began selling shares in the stock in private transactions.

During the latter months of 2000, the retail market for office supplies began foundering.

In July 2002 Staples bought Medical Arts Press, Inc. (MAP) for $383.2 million.

The company also considerably slowed its pace of expansion, opening just 72 new stores in North America and 14 in Europe during fiscal 2002, compared to 117 and 19, respectively, the prior year.

In a 2002 earnings conference call Sargent explained the needs of small businesses to investors. "… [W]e asked the customer[s] what they thought and what they needed.

The Minneapolis ad agency Martin/Williams won the business in 2002, and that year it released the first Staples campaign in eight years that did not rely on the "Yeah, We've Got That" tagline.

In 2002, Staples acquired Medical Arts Press, which became a subsidiary of Quill.

The $73 million Staples campaign's first two commercials aired during the CBS program 60 Minutes on March 2, 2003.

Staples planned to continue its more modest pace of expansion, opening between 75 and 90 stores in North America during 2003.

In early 2003 Martin/Williams developed the tagline "That was easy" to herald the new store format.

In December, the FTC filed a lawsuit to halt the merger, arguing that it would harm competition in the commercial office supply market. and as of January 2016, the FTC has not changed its stance.

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.

With the rebranding, CEO Sandy Douglas (who joined the company in 2018) 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."

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.