Staples Opens Future Store Concepts
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Staples has been opening new store concepts with modern customer experiences. Its latest—the newly renovated Oakville store in Canada.
In June, Staples launched Staples Studio in the U.S., an in-store take on coworking for small businesses, entrepreneurs and commuters, now open inside three Massachusetts Staples locations: Brighton, Danvers and Norwood. Staples Studio was established to foster an environment where businesses can focus on creating, collaborating and connecting in shared workspaces and private or shared offices.
Last week, Staples Canada continued its transformation to The Working and Learning Company with the opening of the Oakville store, now the second store in Canada to feature Staples Studio. The Oakville store’s Studio offers a collaborative workspace, featuring lounge spaces, community kitchens, private and shared offices, and meeting rooms fully equipped with modern office furniture and state-of-the-art technology to meet the needs of the ever-growing start-up community.
Oakville is the fifth Working and Learning Store to open in Canada, following stores in Kirkland and Laval, Quebec, and Richmond Hill and Toronto, Ontario. The stores all demonstrate a completely new retail experience for the retailer, one that's modern with clear sightlines to draw the eye throughout the store experience. Customers are encouraged to interact with discovery areas to test and learn curated product solutions.
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"We've been a part of Oakville's working and learning journey for 27 years, and want to ensure we are continuing to be a dynamic and inspiring partner by providing thousands of new products, an extensive suite of services and a brand new coworking resource," said David Boone, CEO, Staples Canada. "With our transformation to The Working and Learning Company, our goal is to provide a space for this community, which is full of small businesses, entrepreneurs, teachers and students, to exchange ideas and find ways to reach their next level.”
The newly renovated Oakville store also features a wellness café by elxr juice lab, its first permanent location outside of Toronto. elxr juice lab provides healthy alternatives to conventional food products with a full menu for anytime of the day, which includes salads, breakfast parfaits, treats, hot drinks, cold pressed juices, plant-based milks, smoothies, booster shots.
Access to Studio is available on a membership basis, with several flexible and affordable options, ranging from a drop-in day pass to monthly dedicated private offices.
“Staples has evolved alongside our customer from a place intended for simply purchasing supplies to an environment designed to help small businesses flourish through community and solutions,” Mike Motz, CEO, Staples US Retail said when the Studio concept launched. “Many of our customers are small business owners, side-gig enthusiasts or have jobs that keep them mobile. We have thoughtfully designed Staples Studio to be an ecosystem of resources for businesses in a connected environment that will allow our coworking members to focus on what they do best.”
Members benefits at the Oakville store include priority use of Spotlight, an auditorium-style event and community learning space and the in-store Solutionshop, which puts an extended suite of services and resources at members' fingertips with in-house marketing, web design, print and tech services and more. The Massachusetts locations offer members Podcasting studio access, 500 color printed business cards, Unlimited black & white printing, and more.
Worklife
Staples also launched a quarterly magazine, Staples Worklife, in July, delivered digitally and in print. The magazine was created as an extension of the Staples brand transformation, aimed at helping professionals make their workplaces more productive and connected, and to provide products and services designed to inspire colleagues to do their best creative work. The magazine’s initial circulation of 250,000 copies is targeted toward business customers.
“Put simply, our business customers are looking for ways to improve their worklives,” said Marshall Warkentin, Chief Marketing Officer, Staples. “They told us they want solutions to be more productive and connected at work. At Staples, we’re uniquely positioned to bring together solutions to millions of working professionals and to bring a sense of community to work.”
Staples will soon launch an accompanying Staples Worklife podcast and e-newsletter. Following the premier issue, Staples Worklife will expand beyond a magazine to include events and a digital community.