News Release

Company Will Be Able to Better Serve Medium to Large Business Customers in Germany

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Jun 24, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE:ODP), the world's largest seller of office products, today announced that it plans to expand its European Business Services Division into Germany with the addition of a new, highly trained professional Office Depot sales force beginning in January 2003. The addition of this specialized sales force in Germany will allow the Company to service medium to large-sized corporate accounts with such benefits as individualized pricing for key corporate accounts and overnight order fulfillment throughout Germany.

Rolf van Kaldekerken, President of European Operations for Office Depot and Viking Direkt, commented, "Since our initial launch of our German operations in 1995, we have made great strides in serving the needs of our small business customers through our strong catalog and e-commerce (http://www.viking.de) offerings. However, medium to large-sized business customers have different needs than the small business buyer. Germany continues to be one of our strongest countries in Europe; and we are confident that the expansion of our successful European Business Services Division will be well received and offers us a great growth opportunity. We plan to hire the best sales force in the office supply industry to help assist this unique customer base with all of their office products and business solutions purchasing decisions.

"With the addition of a contract sales operation in Germany we will be able to leverage our already strong brand recognition and operational infrastructure in this very important and successful region. By taking advantage of the Company's sophisticated merchandising, marketing and logistics network, we can offer our business customers a broad selection of office products at competitive prices while providing our world renowned fanatical customer service. We look forward to offering German medium to large-sized business customers another alternative for their office products, machines and furniture needs."

Office Depot's Business Services Division (BSD) in Germany will be managed by Reiner Eckhardt, General Manager for BSD Germany, reporting to Rob Vale, Senior Vice President BSD Europe, and to Eckhard Helm, Country Manager Benelux, Germany, Austria & Switzerland. The Company will offer more than 7,000 products including major brands, as well as Office Depot private label products in its high quality approximately 500-page catalog. The Company also plans to offer its contract business customers a specialized Office Depot e-commerce site in mid-2003.

The Business Services Division in Germany will be the sixth contract expansion in Europe since its initial launch in the United Kingdom in September of 2000. The Company followed its United Kingdom launch with new contract businesses in Ireland in March 2001, the Netherlands in June 2001, and France in October 2001, as well as announced plans for its contract business in Italy that will begin in September 2002. Over the next twelve to eighteen months, the Company plans to open new contract sales operations in at least four to six more European countries.

About Office Depot in Europe

The Company's wholly-owned European operations are in eleven countries, including: the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. The Company primarily operates under the Viking brand name, a highly successful direct mail business, and most recently, an established e-commerce operation. Total Company worldwide e-commerce sales in 2000 reached $982 million. The Company's worldwide e-commerce sales for 2001 were $1.6 billion.

The Company also offers its contract customers unique Office Depot brand Web sites that are specifically designed to meet the special needs and requirements of each contract customer. The Company's strategy is to offer these specialized sites in each contract country over the next eighteen months. Currently, the Company offers a site in the United Kingdom at http://bsdnet.officedepot.co.uk and in the Netherlands at http://bsdnet.officedepot.nl , which provides contract customers access to its customized offers and product selection twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

About Office Depot

No one sells more office products to more customers in more countries through more channels than Office Depot. As the largest seller of office products around the world, the Company operates under the Office Depot(R), Viking Office Products(R), Viking Direct(R), Viking Direkt(R) and 4Sure.com(R) brand names. As of March 30, 2002, Office Depot operated 857 office supply superstores in the United States and Canada, in addition to a national business-to-business delivery network supported by 24 delivery centers, more than 60 local sales offices and 13 regional call centers. Furthermore, the Company sells products and services in 18 countries outside of the United States and Canada, including 30 office supply stores in France and 11 in Japan that are owned and operated by the Company; and 105 additional office supply stores under joint venture and licensing agreements operating under the Office Depot(R) name in five foreign countries.

The Company also operates an award-winning U.S. Office Depot brand Web site at http://www.officedepot.com where customers can access Office Depot's low competitive prices seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. The Company also operates fifteen other Web sites, under the Office Depot and Viking Office Products names, in the U.S. and nine international countries including: Austria, Australia, France, Japan, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Office Depot's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Office Depot is an Official Sponsor of the U.S. 2002 and 2004 Olympic Team.

CONTACT: Office Depot, Inc., Delray Beach Eileen Dunn, 561-438-4930 edunn@officedepot.com