Staples Canada ULC, operating as Staples (Bureau en Gros in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

), is a Canadian retail sales company owned by

Sycamore Partners Sycamore Partners is an American private equity firm based in New York specializing in retail and consumer investments. The firm has approximately $10 billion in aggregate committed capital. History Founding Sycamore Partners was founded in 2 ...

. Staples was founded by Leo Kahn and Thomas G. Stemberg. Since 2017, Staples Canada has operated independently from Staples' U.S. retail and U.S.

business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) refers to trade and commercial activity where a business sees other businesses as its customer base. This typically occurs when: * A business sources materials for its production process for ...

(B2B) operations.

History

The Business Depot Ltd. was founded by Jack Bingleman in 1991, with Staples as a substantial investor, opening Business Depot stores in Canada. The American counterpart acquired the Canadian company in 1994. The company would operate in English-language markets under the co-branding "Staples Business Depot", although stores in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

initially continued to operate under the "Business Depot" banner. The presence of Business Depot resulted in

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

issues when competitor

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply retailer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company operates 922 retail stores in the United States under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands, as well as e-commerce sites and a business ...

expanded into Canada: in 1993, Staples obtained an injunction preventing the Office Depot name from being used in Ontario, and thus its stores were operated under the name "The Office Place" instead. The two companies reached a settlement in May 2001, allowing Office Depot to begin using its name on store brand products in Ontario in September 2001, and on store signage in June 2002. In 2008, Staples acquired Corporate Express. In February 2015, Staples announced its intent to acquire Office Depot (which had also recently merged with

Grand & Toy Grand & Toy is a Canadian B2B e-commerce, B2B end-to-end supplier of office products and services, founded in 1882 by James Grand as a home-based stationery printing business. It is owned by The ODP Corporation, whose other brands include Offic ...

owner

OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. As an independent chain, it was the third-largest office supply retailer in the United States. Following a 2013 merger, it is currently a brand and subsidiary of Office Depot. ...

); on December 7, 2015, both the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

and the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

announced that they would move to block the merger under

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

grounds. In 2017, Staples was acquired by private equity firm

for $6.9 billion. Under the new owner, Staples Inc. was split into three "independently managed and capitalized" entities; Staples Canada serves as one of these entities, alongside Staples North American Delivery and Staples U.S. Retail. In December 2018, Staples Canada unveiled a new logo, and the new slogan "Work. Learn. Grow". The rebranding was accompanied by a new store concept, which first launched in Montreal and at its 375 University Avenue flagship store in Toronto. They feature demo areas with curated selections from various product lines (including pens, paper, journals, and consumer electronics), the "Solution Shop" for print and marketing services, and the latter featuring "Staples Studio"

co-working Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

areas and an auditorium-style "Spotlight" theatre (which can be rented for sessions and events). With the new concept, Staples Canada began to position itself as "the working and learning company". In January 2024, Staples Canada began to participate in a pilot project by the Ontario provincial government to relocate some ServiceOntario locations (which provide government services such as vehicle licensing) from standalone bureaus to kiosks within retail stores. Two

Walmart Canada Walmart Canada is a Canadian retail corporation, discount retailer and the Canadian subsidiary of the U.S.-based multinational retail conglomerate Walmart. Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta, it was founded on March 17, ...

stores are also participating in the pilot. Taxpayer money is being used to cover associated renovations, at an estimated cost of $1.75 million; the

Ontario NDP The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Ontario, political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. I ...

questioned the

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party since 2018. He represents the Toronto rid ...

government's decision to enter into a taxpayer-funded sole-source contract with an American-owned corporation to deliver government services.

References

{{Staples Staples Inc. 1991 establishments in Ontario Canadian brands Canadian companies established in 1991 Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Richmond Hill, Ontario Office supply companies of Canada Retail companies established in 1991