Heading Farther South

The Mexican subsidiary of Office Depot Inc. (Delray Beach, Fla.) and its joint-venture partner, Grupo Gigante, will expand into Central America later this year, by opening new stores in Guatemala and Costa Rica.

In 1994, Office Depot Mexico signed a joint-venture agreement with Grupo Gigante to develop and operate a chain of office supply retail stores. Today, the partnership operates 61 stores in 21 cities across Mexico.

This summer, the partners plan to open two stores in Guatemala, and by year-end open two outlets in Costa Rica.

“The Central American market represents an important opportunity for growth,” said Bruce Nelson, Office Depot's chairman and ceo. “The demand for office supplies is steadily growing and the market remains highly fragmented. The business combination of Office Depot and Grupo Gigante has proven to be a valuable partnership. As a result of this success, we can now expand further into Central America and fund this growth through cash flow from existing operations.''

Office Depot operates about 860 office supply superstores in the U.S. and Canada and sells products and services in 16 other countries.