A brief history of office supply stores

For many decades, office supplies have often been sold in local bookstores across the country and in other parts of the world. Today, there are several different stores, such as Office Depot and Staples, that specialize in providing business establishments with various office supplies and equipment. From paper products to office furniture and accessories, these office supply stores have become the one-stop shop for many entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of the business.

How it all began

Most of the popular office supply stores started in the late 1980s. Staples and Office Depot were first established in 1986. Two years later, Office Max opened its first store. Today, these three office supply retail stores are the top three most popular chains with branches throughout the United States and even other parts of the world.

The main reason for establishing a specialty office supply store came out of necessity. The founders of Staples and Office Depot have begun to notice that, although bookstores provide many of the office supplies that any business establishment needs, they are often sold at the retail level. As such, many business establishments, especially those just beginning to start their own small business or home office, settle for the amount of supplies available. Another problem they noticed is that budding entrepreneurs would need to travel from store to store to purchase everything they would need for their business. For example, if they needed some office furniture and accessories, they would have to go to a furniture store. For their computer and electronic equipment needs, they would have to head to an appliance or computer store for this.

The solution

In keeping with this, the founders of Staples, Home Depot, and Office Max came up with a solution. That is, to provide entrepreneurs with a one-stop shop where everything they would need for their business would be available. In addition to providing all the supplies, equipment, and furniture you may need, these specialty office supply stores sell items at retail and wholesale.

Evolution of services

Today, office supply stores also offer a number of different services that you will need for your business. For example, in addition to providing office supplies, equipment and furniture, Staples now has a business center at each location. Here, clients can make use of services such as fax transmissions, commercial material creation, binding, laminating and the like. They also provide a service center for computers, printers, and laptops. Office Depot now also offers ink refill services to its customers by refilling empty printer ink cartridges, saving them money.

Reach your customers

Another advantage for office supply stores is that they offer deep discounts and deals on products like photo paper, printers, ink cartridges, etc. And they don’t just do it for budding entrepreneurs. These offers and discounts are intended to attract teachers, students and anyone who needs to make use of any of their products and services. Such is the case with Office Depot with its STAR Teacher Program. Through this program, a teacher receives deep discounts on select services and products, such as photocopying services and supplies, that they would need.