About Staples

We’ve been helping businesses for nearly 30 years, and it’s all thanks to a broken typewriter ribbon. How it all began In 1985, Staples’ founder Tom Stemberg, a former supermarket chain executive turned entrepreneur, was working on a business proposal over the Fourth of July weekend when his typewriter ribbon broke.

Brecause it was the holiday weekend, local suppliers and stationery stores were closed. After driving from store to store and not finding the correct ribbon, Tom came to a realization: The world needed a supermarket for office products.

Ten months later, Staples, the first office superstore, was open for business. And office supplies became more accessible, and affordable, to all who needed them.