I made one of the most important purchases in my life here--a Printer--after I had so many issues…read morewith my HP that you'd think it was infected with the STUXNET virus. Printing is so underrated, when it is critical for record keeping, advertising fliers, and paperwork filing. In fact, it might have been cheaper for me to buy a printer and then take it home instead of use the kiosk--but Staples DID have the self-serve print kiosk and I had no time to decide that day. In fact, this here Staples even had a Party City department that helped me save money on helium for my child's party. And I was lucky to meet kind community here, too.
So, Staples regularly has sales on printers and the day I went for a printer and helium tank (Staples: That was easy) was the day I got both at a fair price. The sales agent I met helped me get the tank, and before I left, another customer had provided me one of the two coupons from a sheet that was just the right price to save me $10 on my tank of helium. My Canon printer was more than 20% off, which covered the four year warranty I purchased through Staples as well--after my last $300 printer going haywire in less than four years, I'm not about to take these purchases lightly.
The sales agents were kind and helpful as I needed to make two purchases, given the timing of finances. I had no idea Staples offered warranty for their products, but they do, thank goodness. From what I know, Staples may be nationally known, but has its central offices here in Massachusetts, so they're local. I think that's why they took care of so many different aspects of daily 'staples'--journals, binders, printers, chairs, celebrations, and a busy print office since Collective Copies had to move out from Amherst center.
Things definitely seem to be odd in the world of merchandising, though. Amazon sold a box of 12 Sharpie Gel pens for $9, whereas our local Staples had the price at $20. This reminded me of how Larabars, a fruit and snack bar, can no longer be purchased in large sizes at BJ's, a local brand, while Target or Walmart still stock them in 20 packs. You may pay a bit more in some places of Staples, but I love my Uniball pens and I would rather support Staples who stocks them than Amazon. (Uniball is also missing from BJ's.) Staples likely knows what it's like to be at the front lines of paperwork demands and keeps the supplies we need as customers handy for an emergency. Thank goodness-that WAS easy!!