Office Depot Celebrates Sixth Store in Puerto Rico with Grand Opening Celebration across Island

November 9, 2009 8:56 AM EST

Office Depot Opens New Location in Ponce; Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Feature Puerto Rico Dignitaries, Office Depot Executives, Local Businesses and Schools

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, today announced the opening of the Company's sixth retail location in Puerto Rico. The new store is located at 2188 Eduardo Ruberte Avenue, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The local community and businesses will celebrate the store's opening with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony on Wednesday, November 11 at 10 a.m. Mayor of Ponce, Hon. Maria E. "Mayita" Melendez Altieri is scheduled to attend. The Office Depot Foundation will mark the store's entry into the Ponce community with a $3,000 donation to Eugenio M. De Hostos Elementary School and will provide 750 backpacks to local school children.

"Office Depot opened our first store in Puerto Rico in 2007 with the goal of providing businesses here with exceptional value, a wide selection of products and services, and outstanding customer service," said Chuck Rubin, President of North American Retail for Office Depot. "In that time, we have helped businesses here grow and succeed. The response from the Puerto Rico community has been fantastic and we look forward to continuing to be a great partner to current and future customers."

Office Depot's new Ponce location joins five other existing Office Depot retail stores in Puerto Rico, including:

    --  Guaynabo -- 104 Avenida San Patricio
    --  Guaynabo -- Los Jardines Shopping Center
    --  Carolina -- 65 Infanteria Avenue
    --  Bayamon -- Plaza Tropical, State Road 167
    --  Caguas -- Las Catalinas Mall, 700 Calle Betances, Ste. 30

Each of the store locations will celebrate Office Depot's presence on the island and its commitment to the local business community with customer specials on Wednesday, November 11.

The Ribbon Cutting at Office Depot's new Ponce location will feature a number of special guests, including Mayor Altieri, Mr. Jose I. Irizarry, Second Vice President of Southern Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, and Mrs. Nilda Ortiz, Director of Eugenio M. De Hostos Elementary School.

Additionally, customers are invited to the Ponce store's grand opening celebration, and to take advantage of a number of activities and promotions, including: discount coupons, product giveaways and vendor demonstrations.

About the New Office Depot Store in Ponce

The new Ponce store will be led by Store Manager Arnaldo Barreto, who was born and raised in Ponce. According to Barreto, the new Ponce location features Office Depot's industry-leading M2 retail format. M2 offers customers an enjoyable shopping experience - in a format that is intuitive, logical and designed specifically for the way people make purchase decisions.

Products are grouped in highly visible, strategically located "pods," with core supplies at the outer perimeter of the store - signed for optimal visibility and easy purchase - and furniture and technology at the center - to better support consultative sales.

The new Office Depot store employs approximately 20 full- and part-time associates. It houses more than 7,500 technology, furniture and supply products as well as copy and print services in over 29,000 square feet.

Store hours are Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The telephone number for the store is 787-284-2330.

Taking Care of the Community

Office Depot is committed to making a difference in the communities in which our associates live and work. The independent, non-profit Office Depot Foundation supports local communities, schools and non-profit organizations through a variety of initiatives, including its National Backpack Program. Since the program's inception in 2001, Office Depot has given more than two million new backpacks to help children succeed in school. In 2006, Office Depot partnered with Feed The Children and the Ricky Martin Foundation to provide thousands of backpacks to children in Puerto Rico. In 2008, the Foundation donated backpacks to Casa Protegida De Julia De Burgos, Inc. and Hogar Del Nino, Inc. To learn more about the Office Depot Foundation, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org.

Taking Care of the Environment

Office Depot's longstanding commitment to the environment is guided by the Company's environmental vision to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green. Since 2003, Office Depot has developed and implemented a number of environmentally sustainable programs, which makes the company a leader in the office products industry. A complete overview of Office Depot's environmental programs is available at www.officedepot.com/environment.

To view Office Depot's Environmental Sustainability Media Relations Site, please visit http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/environment.

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,585 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.2 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $14.5 billion, and employs about 42,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 49 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.

    Source: Office Depot

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