In 1990, Staples, Inc., the worldwide office supplies and equipment store chain, began its West Coast expansion by moving into the city of Los Angeles, CA. By 1997 the company was sufficiently established that it purchased the naming rights for the Staples Center, Los Angeles' premier sports and entertainment complex.



Staples, Inc. is the world's biggest office supplies and equipment retail store chain, sporting more than 1,900 stores worldwide, including locations in the U.S., Canada, Belgium, England, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. A catalog business serves customers in Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Denmark, Austria and Italy. The company, which started out in Massachusetts, sells items like office machines, furniture, computers and business services. Staples.com is its online Web site.

Offering an extensive number of services to its customers, Staples has copy and print centers for things like faxing, business cards and custom stamps. Stores also feature UPS pickup and delivery during business hours. The copy center is virtually a store inside a store, especially since most are in a separate section from the rest of the host store.

Specific stores tout Staples EasyTech, an in-store and on-site service for computer repair, upgrades, as well as home and office networking setup.

To stay ahead of their competition, Staples has been running a test program named 'Heavy Up,' mainly using stores in New York State, since 2005, to experiment with increasing the services offered by the Tech Center. Another test, called 'Double Up' began running early in 2006 in unspecified markets. This is all being done to gain an advantage on competitors like Best Buy's Geek Squad and Circuit City's Firedog.

In early 2006, Staples also established the 'Easy Resident Tech' program, which featured one or two repair technicians to do in-store computer repairs during business hours. On-site work, though, is available when desired.

Beginning in Fall 2007, the company established a 'Security by Staples' initiative, which attempts to educate customers how to avoid identity theft, data loss, and other such Internet threats. It also offers a wide variety of products and services to keep customers' identities, as well as personal and business data, safeguarded from common security threats.