OFFICE SUPPLY CHAINS MERGE
By Adnews Staff
Staples Inc. of Framingham, Massachusetts is buying Office Depot Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida for $3.49 billion(US). Staples operates as Business Depot, Staples and Bureau en Gos in Canada. Office Depot uses its own name in Western Canada and Office Place in Ontario. The move gives the office supply chain 1,100 outlets in North America. The deal will close in about four months. When it does, the stores will be renamed Staples-Office Depot. In Canada, Staples handles print ads and English language radio ads in-house. English TV ads are created in two ways. Either Staples hires Canadian agencies on a project basis, or it uses U.S. creative localized by Bradnic Enterprises of Toronto. Staples U.S. agency is Cliff, Freeman & Associates of New York. Quebec radio and TV ads are created by Martel & Company of Montreal, with the help of freelancer Carole Rivard-Lacroix. All broadcast media is bought by Genesis Media of Toronto. Officials at Office Depot in Canada and the U.S. were unavailable to comment on how advertising for the chain is handled in Canada. Once the deal closes, Staples will decide how the combined account will be handled. Staples has 83 stores in Canada, while Office Depot has 32.