The idea for Staples was created in 1985, while founder Thomas G. Stemberg was working on a proposal for a different business. He needed a ribbon for his printer, but was unable to obtain one because his local dealer was closed for the Independence Day holiday. A frustration with the reliance on small stores for critical supplies combined with Stemberg's background in the grocery business led to a vision for an office supply superstore. The first store was opened in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986. The 500th store was opened in Vero Beach, Florida, in 1996.

On September 4, 1996, Staples and Office Depot announced plans to merge. The Federal Trade Commission decided that the superpower would unfairly increase office supply prices despite competition from OfficeMax, because OfficeMax did not have stores in many of the local markets that the merger would affect. Staples ultimately argued that chains such as Wal-Mart and Circuit City represented significant competition, but this argument did little to sway the FTC. Following the denial of the merger by the FTC, a rivalry has formed between the two companies.

On April 1, 1988, OfficeMax was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by Michael Feuer (who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer) along with seven other associates. On July 5 of that year, OfficeMax opened its first retail store in the Golden Gate Shopping Center in Mayfield Heights, Ohio (the location remains open today as store #1).

OfficeMax grew by acquisition, including its 1990 takeover of Office Square stores, previously owned by Kmart, in exchange for a 22% equity stake. In 1991, Kmart increased its stake in OfficeMax to 92%. The company acquired BizMart, its largest acquisition to date, in 1992. OW-Office Warehouse, a Virginia-based regional chain, was acquired in 1993. In 1995 OfficeMax was spun-off of Kmart and became a NYSE-(OMX)-publicly-traded corporation, based in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

For the next ten years OfficeMax and its rivals, STAPLES and Office Depot, continued to open new stores, saturating the market segment. OfficeMax developed regional delivery centers, and investing in its super-regional PowerMax distribution centers in Las Vegas, NV (North Las Vegas, NV), Hazleton, PA (Onida, PA), and Birmingham, AL (McCalla, AL). All the while OfficeMax had the worst money losing results of the three. In 2001-2003, OfficeMax began closing under-performing stores in some neighborhoods and in regions where it didn't have a strong presence. Staples and Office Depot considered merging, but that deal was called off. Of the three, it was OfficeMax that would be acquired; by Boise Cascade Office Products Corporation, which had a nationwide office supply delivery operation based in Itasca, IL. Boise had no bricks and mortar retail presence; their model used sales accounts people.

Boise Cascade, which bought OfficeMax in 2003, also owned the Cuban Electric Co. before it was seized by the Cuban government following the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power. OfficeMax is the largest property claimant in Cuba.

Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) is a supplier of office products and services. The company's selection of brand name office supplies includes business machines, computers, computer software and office furniture, while its business services encompass copying, printing, document reproduction, mailing and shipping. An S&P 500 company, Office Depot generates revenues of over US $14 billion annually and has 42,000 employees worldwide. It is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

Office Depot was founded in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida (near Fort Lauderdale) in 1986 by three partners: Pat Sher, Stephen Dougherty, and Jack Kopkin. Sher, the company's first CEO, died the next year from leukemia. Sher's estate donated the proceed of his life insurance policy to help the fledgling company meet its payroll. The company retained professional executive recruiters (so-called "headhunters") to find a replacement for Sher. David Fuente, formerly an executive with Sherwin-Williams, was selected as the new chairman and CEO.

Fuente immediately launched an aggressive nationwide expansion program. To finance it, he arranged for an initial public offering of stock in 1988. In 1991, Office Depot expanded to the West Coast region with the purchase of competitor Office Club. By 1993, it was operating over 350 stores in the U.S. and Canada. This acquisition moved Office Depot onto the national stage. Mark Begelman, founder and president of Office Club, joined Office Depot as president and chief operating officer.

Office Club stores were slated to continue operations under the Office Club brand and operate as a subsidiary of Office Depot. This was because Office Club operated under a "Membership format" (similar to what is currently employed by Costco and Sam's Club) and the company was at first reluctant to part with that. Within a year of the merger, Office Club stores dropped the membership format and became fully assimilated with Office Depot.

Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) is, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, a leading specialty retailer of fine jewelry in North America. As of July 31, 2008, Zale operated 1,396 specialty retail jewelry stores and 739 kiosks located mainly in shopping malls throughout the United States of America, Canada and Puerto Rico. The Zale Corporation was incorporated in Delaware in 1993. The principal executive offices are located in Irving, Texas.

The company began in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when Morris (M.B.) Zale, William Zale, and Ben Lipshy opened the first Zales Jewelers store. At the time, credit plans were not common, so their concept of offering one was fairly revolutionary, marketed under the slogan, "a penny down and a dollar a week." By the beginning of World War II, the company had expanded to a dozen stores throughout Texas and Oklahoma.

During the lean war years, Zales maintained its prices and looked for expansion opportunities. In 1944, Corrigan's of Dallas was acquired, a finer jewelry purchase that eventually launched the Bailey Banks & Biddle brand.

The year 1957 was marked both by Zales' first entry into a shopping center (rather than stand-alone downtown locations), and the company's listing on the American Stock Exchange.

In 1986, the company was bought out by a Canadian and Austrian consortium, and in 1989, the entity bought Gordon's Jewelers.

Zale Corp. is now a public company trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Zale used to operate leased fine jewellery departments (in department stores) known as Diamond Park Fine Jewelers, but sold off the chain to Finlay Enterprises in 1997.

In fiscal year 2006 Zale Corporation tested a repair store concept, branded as Master Jewelry Repair. The concept was deemed a failure and all three test stores were closed in 2006.

Zale closed all 86 Peoples II kiosk and cart locations in Canada in 2007. The concept was meant to be the Canadian version of Piercing Pagoda, but ultimately failed.

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2008 Zale Corporation sold the Bailey Banks & Biddle upscale jewelry chain (including one store operating as "Zell Bros.") to Finlay Enterprises.

In 2008 105 locations closed (12% of total). More closings are expected in 2009.

Ace Hardware Corp., based in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, is a hardware cooperative that was created in 1924 by Richard Hesse, E. Gunnard Lindquist, Frank Burke and Oscar Fisher in Chicago, Illinois.

The company, which was founded to provide a centralized purchasing organization to supply the founders' stores and others, was incorporated in 1928 as Ace Stores Inc. Its retail network expanded to hundreds of dealers by 1949, when annual sales reached about $10 million.

After Hesse retired in 1973, Ace was sold to its retailers, becoming a cooperative, and the headquarters moved to suburban Oak Brook. Independent owners became dealer-owners and shareholders in the company. Because it's a co-op and not a franchise, each Ace store looks different. Ace has placed a focus on Ace stores exhibiting some similar characteristics, such as signaled and core product lines. The Vision 21 program, as this is called, is aimed to make all stores look recognizable as an Ace Hardware.

As of 2005, the $13 billion retail hardware cooperative is made up of more than 4,600 independent stores in all 50 states of the United States and in 70 different countries. Ace Hardware was named after the Ace fighter pilots of World War I, who were able to overcome all odds.

Their long-time slogan; The helpful hardware place; has been replaced by The helpful place. Another change came when their longtime jingle — "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man" — was modified with the more gender-neutral "folks" replacing "man." Much of their advertising since 1987 features John Madden, a former NFL coach and announcer.

Prior to John Madden, Suzanne Somers was a spokesperson for Ace Hardware but was dropped because of a previously issued topless poster for Maheraja water skis. Home improvement expert Lou Manfredini currently serves as ACE's "Helpful Hardware Man" and media spokesperson.

Ray Griffith currently serves as the President and CEO of ACE Hardware Corporation and has served in that position since taking over for Dave Hodnik in 2005. Hodnik had served as ACE's leader since 1996. David Ziegler serves as Chairman of the Board. ACE Hardware Corporation now does over $3 billion in hardline sales annually and had $12.5 billion in retail sales during 2007.