Austin, Texas, Location One of 14 “Greener” Stores Planned For 2010 BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Office Depot® (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, celebrated the opening of its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Commercial Interiors (CI) registered store at 2 p.m. yesterday. Office Depot expects the store to be certified a few months after opening. As part of the celebration, which will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Office Depot Foundation will make donations to local non-profit organizations. LEED CI is the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint. “Office Depot is at the forefront of corporate environmental sustainability,” said Kevin Peters, President of North American Retail for Office Depot, “and LEED CI is a step forward in our expanded effort to grow greener.” Through LEED for Commercial Interiors, Office Depot is able to integrate environmentally friendly attributes into its stores’ preexisting shells. Beginning with the Austin store, all new and relocated North American Office Depot retail locations will receive LEED CI certification, including 14 stores planned for 2010. According to Peters, Office Depot aims to continue the success of its LEED Gold certified store which opened in 2008. The store, also located in Austin, Texas, made Office Depot the first retailer to receive LEED Gold Certification on a store prototype. Among its many benefits, the LEED Gold store lowers carbon emissions by 23 percent and is about 15 percent more energy efficient (per square foot) than other Office Depot retail locations in Austin. “As a leader in green initiatives, Office Depot is focused on improving the environmental performance of our suppliers, our customers and ourselves,” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot. “We take our role very seriously and hope that our commitment to ‘green’ all new stores has a positive impact on the communities they serve.”
