ODP promotes small business with third-annual catalog

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot announced that it has released its third annual Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) catalog, which highlights select HUB suppliers and an assortment of more than 1,600 items ranging from safety and medical supplies to staplers and technology products.

The HUB catalog features Office Depot’s complete assortment of products sold by HUB vendors and is available to Office Depot’s Business Solutions Division (BSD) customers.

According to Office Depot, HUBsare historically under-marketed, underutilized and often misunderstood enterprises and can include certified minority, women, disabled, and veteran-owned businesses.

“Office Depot is committed to the economic development of the communities in which we work and live, and we’re proud to offer the most comprehensive supply chain diversity model of its kind in order to give HUBs the best opportunities to expand and prosper,” said Robert Ballou, director supply chain diversity for Office Depot. “We look forward to promoting the new HUB catalog to those Office Depot customers looking for a more diverse product offering.”

The Office Depot HUB catalog will be distributed at the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC) Annual Conference Trade Show in Atlanta, Ga. in late October and will be available online at www.officedepot.com/diversity in mid November. The 2011 catalog will also be available through Office Depot’s National Account Sales team and is mailed directly to more than 500 purchasers nationwide.