- By Doug Levine
- Around Town
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“Office Depot is strongly committed to enhancing the quality of life in the communities in which we conduct business,” said Joe Tompkins, manager of the new Office Depot store. “We are excited to open our first store in Ithaca and very pleased that we can assist these critically important non-profit organizations in their efforts to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children and families in this area.”
The backpack donations are part of the Office Depot National Backpack Program, through which the company is distributing 300,000 new backpacks to non-profit organizations and schools serving “at-risk” children throughout the United States and Canada in 2006.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Office Depot made $500 contributions and donated a number of new backpacks to three local non-profit organizations: The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, Tompkins Community Action, Inc. and Tompkins County Public Library Foundation. In addition, The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce offered welcoming remarks.
According to Tompkins, the new Ithaca store features Office Depot’s industry-leading M2 retail format. M2 offers customers the most enjoyable shopping experience in the industry – 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 store employs approximately 25 full- and part-time associates. It houses more than 7,500 technology, furniture and supply products as well as Design, Print and Ship services in 23,700 square feet of customer space.
With annual sales of nearly $15 billion, Office Depot provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company. Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, Office Depot conducts business in 23 countries and employs about 47,000 people worldwide.
Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel - from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. With over $3.8 billion in sales, the Company is one of the world’s largest e-commerce retailers. As of July 1, 2006, Office Depot had 1,071 retail stores in North America. Internationally, the Company conducts wholly- or majority-owned operations in 16 countries, and operates retail stores under joint venture and license arrangements in another five countries.
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