Five questions for Demos Parneros

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 18, 2008 at 8:05 p.m.

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Demos Parneros

* President of Staples office supplies, on the plans for Colorado

For Demos Parneros, being a neat freak comes with the job.

"I'm a clean-desk kind of guy. At least I try to be," said Parneros, president of office supply store Staples' U.S. stores. "Being physically organized helps me get my thoughts together." Parneros has a lot to keep track of these days. He oversees Framingham, Mass.-based Staples' 1,500 U.S. stores, including its rapidly growing Colorado locations. The office supply superstore first entered the state in late 2006 and now has 13 stores with plans for six more.

Parneros was in town last week for Staples' annual shareholder meeting and talked to the Rocky Mountain News about Staples' Colorado plans, whether the retailer has been hurt by the economic slowdown and what the Corporate Express purchase means.

1. How is Staples holding up in this economic environment?

The past couple of quarters have been tough for us because we've definitely been hit by the slowdown. We've actually reported negative comps. I think we had 20 quarters of positive comps before this recent downturn.

People are coming in a little less frequently and maybe buying a little bit less, since everyone is squeezing their expenses and trying to manage through as best they can. But we're here, we're not going anywhere, and we're going to continue to provide our customers with really good prices and find ways to save people money.

2. When you entered the Denver market in 2006, you were the third office superstore in the market after Office Max and Office Depot. Why did you think there was room for another competitor?

We think we're different than the other two office supply stores as well as all the other competition that's here. You can go into a Costco or Target or Kinkos or the drugstore and see a lot of the items that we sell. Everyone wants to be in this business, but we feel that we've got better service and selection.

3. What will Staples' proposed $2.7 billion purchase of Corporate Express mean?

It's hard to say what will change right now. I think eventually it will change, and it will change for the better because they'll have the benefit of Staples' experience. They're a very good company. Very well-respected not only in North America but Europe and other places where Staples doesn't do business yet, like Australia and New Zealand. I think that teaming up is really going to result in a win for the customer.

4. Staples is moving beyond paper and ink into services like in-store copy centers and mobile tech support. Why does Staples see these as growth areas?

With things like wide-format color printing, the technology has improved so much that we can print items like that (gesturing to a large poster) in minutes. Prices have come down so you're able to do it quickly and it becomes a really professional, affordable sign fast.

We've had Easy Tech for about a year and a half. People are very paranoid about their computers - it's very personal information that you may or may not have backed up. They want to trust someone to do this. This industry is dominated by the mom and pops. Everyone knows Geek Squad, but besides Geek Squad can you name anyone else? I think people know Staples and they trust Staples, and having good, trained people will go a long way.

5. Many of your Denver-area stores are in Staples' new format. What was the thinking behind this design?

Roughly 55 percent of our customers are female, and we tried to really keep in mind some of the things they gave us as feedback. Some said our floors were really harsh, so we carpeted them. Wider aisles, improved lighting. The shelves are lower so it doesn't feel like a warehouse.

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