Office Depot Joins with City of Austin and U.S. Green Building Council to Celebrate...

Office Depot Joins with City of Austin and U.S. Green Building Council to Celebrate Groundbreaking of Company's First ''Green'' Store

Company to Be One of the First Retailers to Build LEED-Based
Prototype Design; Austin Store Represents Model for Future Office
Depot Stores in USGBC Portfolio Program
DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(Business Wire)--
Office Depot(R) (NYSE:ODP), a leading global provider of office
products and services, today will join with City of Austin Mayor Will
Wynn, representatives from the Austin Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.
Green Building Council (USGBC) to celebrate the groundbreaking of the
first Office Depot "Green" store at 2320 Anderson Lane in Austin, TX.

Upon completion of the energy and resource-efficient store in
Summer 2008, Office Depot's Anderson Lane location will be one of the
first registered projects to certify within USGBC's LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) Volume Certification Program. This
enables participants to integrate the LEED green building rating
system into new and existing buildings in their company's portfolio.
Office Depot is the only office supply retailer participating in the
program.

"Office Depot is extremely excited to celebrate the groundbreaking
of our first 'Green' store," said Chuck Rubin, President of North
American Retail for Office Depot. "With a retail chain of more than
1,200 locations, there are few chances for firsts. The construction of
our newest Austin, Texas, location represents our first green store
and we are very proud of this initiative. It is a shining example of
how Office Depot is committed to taking care of business and taking
care of the planet."

"The City of Austin and Office Depot have a strong partnership
that goes back nearly two decades," said Austin Mayor Will Wynn. "We
are extremely proud that our city has been chosen by Office Depot as
the home for the global retailer's first 'green' store. Office Depot's
commitment to increasingly 'be green' will only assist Austin in
meeting our own goals to improve the city's sustainability."

Office Depot currently has 138 stores in Texas and eight stores in
Austin. The Company opened its first location in Austin 18 years ago
and chose the environmentally conscious city for its first green store
partly because of Mayor Wynn's Austin Climate Protection Plan aimed at
reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions and making all city
facilities, fleets and operations carbon-neutral by 2020.

Office Depot is one of a select few companies using the Volume
Certification process by participating in USGBC's Portfolio Program, a
pilot program formed to help retail chains achieve LEED-Certification
at numerous locations and to facilitate the certification process for
a company's prototype.

"Office Depot's commitment to building green marks their
leadership in the retail community," said Justin Doak, Manager of LEED
for Retail at USGBC. "The impact that buildings have on our
environment is too often overlooked. Office Depot has demonstrated
leadership in the retail community as they incorporate sustainable
practices into their retail locations - not only in respect to their
environmental footprint, but for the well-being of their employees and
customers who work and visit the space. We are grateful to Office
Depot and all of our other pilot participants for their help in the
development and refinement of this innovative program."

The new Green store will integrate many green building design
elements, including:

-- Energy Reduction: T5 Energy-Efficient Lighting,
high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air condition units
and insulation, enhanced energy management system, effective
temperature controls, skylights and a reflective roof. Outside
of the store, there will be a bicycle rack and map and
designated parking for hybrid vehicles.

-- Waste Reduction: Steel decking and joists made of 60 to 100%
recycled steel and a 60% recycled concrete floor; Interior
partitions composed of more than 95% recycled materials.

-- Water Conservation: Water-efficient taps and flushes in the
restroom.

-- Green Products: Office Supplies, Technology and Furniture from
Office Depot's 4,000-plus assortment of products with green
benefits such as recycled content, remanufactured components,
energy efficiency and non-toxic chemical use.

-- Green Services: Environmental solutions for Office Depot
customers including Office Depot's Ink and Toner Cartridge
Recycling Program, Tech Recycling Service and Cell Phone and
Rechargeable Battery Recycling.

"Office Depot has an environmental vision to increasingly buy
green, be green and sell green," said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Environmental
Strategy Advisor for Office Depot. "By becoming the first office
supply retailer to "build green" using the LEED volume certification
program, we are once again setting a precedent for others in our
industry to follow."

"The Austin Chamber is excited to have Office Depot's first
LEED-certified green retail store located in Austin," said Jose
Beceiro, Director of Clean Energy for the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
"Office Depot's commitment to energy conservation, energy efficiency,
and low environmental impact retail development matches up seamlessly
with Austin's long-term strategy to become a leader in green building
design, renewable energy usage, and clean technology innovation. The
Austin Chamber thanks Office Depot for choosing Austin to kick-off
their green retail store initiative, and looks forward to a long-term
partnership towards transforming Austin into the 'Clean Energy Capital
of the World.'"

Office Depot's partner on the project is SBLM Architects PC.

For more information on Office Depot's environmental initiatives
please visit:
http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/environment/docs/office-depot-env
ironment-fact-sheet.pdf. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be
copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the
extra space if one exists.) To view the Company's assortment of
greener office products, visit www.officedepot.com/buygreen.

Press materials and information related to Office Depot's
commitment to the environment and details on the Company's first
"Green" store are available at
http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/environment.

About Office Depot

Office Depot provides more office products and services to more
customers in more countries than any other company.

Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla.,
Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $15.5 billion, and
employs approximately 52,000 associates around the world. Currently,
the Company sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 43
countries.

Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel -- from
retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. As of
September 29, 2007, Office Depot had 1,212 retail stores in North
America and another 384 stores, either company-owned, licensed or
franchised, in other parts of the world. Office Depot serves a wide
range of customers through a dedicated sales force, telephone account
managers, direct mail offerings, and multiple web sites. With $4.8
billion in online sales during the last twelve months, the Company is
also one of the world's largest e-commerce retailers.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index.
Additional press information can be found at:
http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.

About USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership
organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a
generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders,
universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations.
Since USGBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to include more
than 13,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family
of LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green
building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the
industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo
(www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters,
affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit
www.usgbc.org. The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) encourages
and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and
development practices through the creation and implementation of
universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

SBLM Architects PC

SBLM Architects PC is committed to achieving the goals of
sustainable architecture - Green buildings. As a Member of the U.S.
Green Building Council, SBLM's LEED certified professionals work to
ensure that this focus continues to be part of the designer's
intention in every facility we work on. Our work includes new
buildings, additions, renovations, adaptive re-use and restoration
projects.

Office Depot, Delray Beach
Melissa Perlman, 561-438-0704 (office) or
561-310-9921 (cell)
Melissa.Perlman@officedepot.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008