The Office Depot concept, ubiquitous in the US, has been tailored for the Spanish market. In addition, the new stores, which will cater to small- to medium-size business customers, will get a leg up by leveraging the existing supply chain and administration infrastructure of Viking Office Products, a wholly owned catalog-based subsidiary of Office Depot launched last year.

"After a very successful launch of Viking's catalog operations in Spain, and based on our extensive evaluation of the Spanish market, we believe that opening retail store locations in Spain will allow us to further our mission to become one of the leading providers of office products and services in the region," says Rolf van Kaldekerken, Office Depot president of European operations. "Our practice of fanatical customer service has enabled us to develop lasting relationships with customers and become their trusted resource for office supplies. In addition, our strong presence throughout Europe and leading market share in each country in which we operate allows us to buy products better and pass on those savings to our customers."

Bruce Nelson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Office Depot adds, "One of the important tenets of the Company's growth strategy is international expansion and new market penetration. The demand for office supplies is steadily growing and the market remains highly fragmented. We believe the time is right to expand in Spain with a retail store network; this strategic decision demonstrates our commitment to building and ensuring sustainable growth in shareholder value through targeted international expansion. We will focus on building store density in the Madrid market arena and taking full advantage of our "first mover" position. The Madrid area is by far the largest market in Spain, and this channel expansion will provide us the opportunity to grow our share in this large fragmented market."