Staples on East Jefferson at Jos. Campau will open on October 21, and the grand opening will be celebrated with a “ribbon-shredding” and community preview on October 25 with local dignitaries, including Mayor Kilpatrick and Congressman John Conyers. Noal Solomon, Staples’ vice-president of real estate, credits both men with Staples’ decision to open Detroit’s first office superstore. In reference to a lack of urban retail, Solomon says, “The congressman looks at it as a national issue, and the mayor is doing everything a mayor can do to attract retail to Detroit.”
Solomon wishes other national chains would look to the Detroit market, saying, “It’s better for people who live in cities by creating jobs and not forcing them to travel to the suburbs [and] it keeps tax dollars in cities, so that cities can do more things with those tax dollars.”
But Solomon sees urban locations as good for the corporation, too. “One of the things that Staples tries to do is make it easy for our customers so that the shopping experience is easier and better than the customer can find at other retailers. One of the ways that we do this is by making it easy and convenient for customers to shop our stores. It’s not easy for a city resident to have to drive 20 or more minutes to shop a store, and it’s not easy for downtown businesses to drive over 20 minutes to go to an office superstore.”
At the opening ceremony, Staples will also present a donation to Communities in Schools of Detroit and will announce an ongoing partnership with Mayor Kilpatrick's Mayor's Time program.
Source: Noal Solomon, Staples
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