In 1986, Office Depot - What you need. What you need to know -, the world's largest seller of office products, opened the doors of its first store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and today operates more than 850 stores throughout the United States, Canada, France and Japan.Office Depot is more than an industry leader-it is a group of people dedicated to serving the needs of customers every day with a commitment to make Office Depot a more compelling place to shop.

A key factor in this equation is the real estate site selection for our stores, particularly as we move forward with our retail expansion for 2002 and beyond. Our strategy for our retail store network is simple - dedicate our resources and assets in markets that are strong and profitable for us. Our new locations will be well positioned in the heart of high traffic retail areas. Plus, our new stores will be based on a more efficient platform allowing for more flexibility in order to better meet the needs of a given market. We will also have enhanced lighting, improved messaging through signage, new plan-o-grams, and the installation of broadband in all existing and new stores.

We believe all of these initiatives will enhance the customer experience, and create a more compelling place for our core small, medium and large business customers to shop, for our employees to work, and for our shareholders to invest in the future. No other company in the world sells more office products to more businesses than Office Depot, and no other company "Takes Care of Business" in such a compelling way.