[LOGO                                            ]                  NEWS RELEASE
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CONTACT: Eileen H. Dunn
         Vice President, Investor Relations/Public Relations
         561/438-4930
         edunn@officedepot.com

                  OFFICE DEPOT CFO BARRY J. GOLDSTEIN TO RETIRE

                     SEARCH PROCESS UNDER WAY FOR SUCCESSOR

(DELRAY BEACH, FL) JULY 27, 2000 -- OFFICE DEPOT, INC. (NYSE: ODP), the world's
largest seller of office products, today announced that Barry J. Goldstein, 57,
Chief Financial Officer of the Company, has announced his plans to retire from
the Company, effective upon the selection of his replacement. A search process
is under way for a new CFO.

Bruce Nelson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Barry has been with Office
Depot from the beginning, and he has worked tirelessly to build the Company into
the industry leader it is today. All of us deeply appreciate the job Barry has
done. His leadership within the company and the industry will be missed. We all
wish him continued success."

"I have thoroughly enjoyed these past 14 years at Office Depot, helping to build
it from a handful of stores to a major public company," said Mr. Goldstein. "The
people who make up this company are among the best in the business, and I
believe Office Depot is poised for a great future under Bruce Nelson's
leadership. However, I have been considering retirement for some time, and I'm
looking forward to spending more time with my family and in other pursuits. I
anticipate doing some consulting work and also serving on boards of companies
where my years of experience may prove useful. "

Nelson added, "As I committed to our employees, shareholders and the capital
markets in our press release of July 18, ensuring that we continue to build a
strong management team and add to the base of management talent that we already
have at Office Depot has my highest priority. I am confident, given our industry
leadership position, that we can attract a highly qualified CFO to Office
Depot."

ABOUT OFFICE DEPOT

As of June 24, 2000, the Company operated 855 office supply superstores in the
United States and Canada, in addition to a national business-to-business
delivery network supported by 30 delivery centers, more than 60 local sales
offices and seven regional call centers. Furthermore, the Company owned and
operated 27 office supply stores in France and seven stores in Japan; had mail
order and delivery operations in 14 countries outside of the United States and
Canada;




and under joint venture and licensing agreements, had 89 additional stores
operating under the Office Depot name in six other foreign countries. The
Company also operates an award-winning U.S. Office Depot brand Internet Web site
at www.officedepot.com where customers can access Office Depot's low competitive
prices seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and it operates Viking brand
Web sites at www.vikingop.com in the United States, www.viking-direct.co.uk in
the United Kingdom, www.viking.de in Germany, www.vikingdirect.nl in The
Netherlands and www.vikingop.it in Italy. Office Depot's common stock is traded
on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P
500 Index.

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