Students won’t find a Staples store near Wal-Mart after Sept. 20.
Staples has moved from its previous location to a new site within the Palouse Mall complex. The grand opening is set for Sept. 22.
The new location gives Staples a more centralized property in Moscow, said Brandon Rappe, general manager of the Moscow Staples.
Existing in a college town, Staples plays a key roll in the community. Rappe said his primary goal is to make his store run as efficiently as possible, both for his staff and their customers’ experience.
“I think we can better serve the university because it is closer to campus,” Rappe said. “People can more easily walk and bike to our new location.”
The upgraded location will feature a business center with high-speed Wi-Fi, self serve computers and printers for printing jobs, Rappe said.
“We felt it was core in the market to give people a place to sit and work together,” Rappe said.
Rappe said this new feature will increase the size of the printing department by 300 percent and makes the printing center run more efficiently. The business center will also include charging stations, he said.
Sept. 20 and Sept. 21 Rappe will station associates at both store locations to inform customers about the move and offer early grand opening coupons to be used Sept. 22.
The new location is smaller in size, but it will feature 1,200 new items not available at the former location, Rappe said.
“We will offer a diverse group of new products,” Rappe said. “Everything from general supplies to break room technology.”
The new location will utilize a more efficient stocking module to compensate for its size. As items run out, new orders will be made immediately to avoid running out of stock as well as eliminating excess stock. This new module grants the location a 20 percent increase in stocking space, Rappe said.
“It is considered a high-density store, although we have a smaller footprint or square footage, we are able to use it to our advantage,” Rappe said.
To maintain the efficiency module Staple’s has adopted for all operations, Rappe said the new location features energy-saving lighting by utilizing movement-activated lights that only activate when people are present in a lit area.
Rappe said he hopes the business center will become a place for students to congregate and get their work done by taking advantage of the new resources the store will offer. He said he is planning for the new location to have a larger and more impactful relationship with the City of Moscow and the University of Idaho.
Kevin Neighbors
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