Staples

They’ve got every type of staple in the world! 0.4mm, 0.3mm, long pronged, short pronged, whatever staple you need, they’ve got it. 35 acres of warehouse dedicated to staples alone.
Not really! I’ve been pulling your leg. Its not really completely dedicated to staples. Oh and its not 35 acres in size. Imagine it was though… staple heaven.
It has got staples of course, but its also got other things, like rulers, and rubbers. Its not just stationary either, it stocks literally everything you could need for your office from paper to chairs.
Its actually a good place to get laptops, as they often have some good deals and the laptops are pretty good.
Basically if you’ve ever seen it in an office, its here.

Do you remember that back-​to-​school Staples advert, where there’s a happy dad, ecstatically frolicking round Staples to the sound of ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ throwing stationery into the trolley, whilst his recalcitrant children followed, dead-​eyed. Now, obviously Ad Dad was gloriously happy because after 6 weeks of Summer holiday hell, the little buggers are going back to school and he will be able to watch Jeremy Kyle undisturbed once more. Despite the fact that, unlike Ad Dad, I have no children hampering my TV times, I do still execute any visits to a stationer’s in much the same fashion. Especially this one, as it is massive.
The boyf doesn’t understand my love of stationery. Especially as, he often points out, I am no longer a student so therefore have no real need for stationery above the odd notebook for making lists. Oh and Sharpies. Everyone needs Sharpies. Anyway, the boyf disagrees with my stationery love, but still agrees to accompany me every few months to Staples.
This branch of Staplles is fabulous. It’s basically a temple to stationery; huge and plentiful. And while I coo over the many different colours of Sharpies, the boyf wanders off and finds an executive chair to sit on.
There’s a lot to be said for the helpfulness of staff here. It must be something to do with it being an American company, because as we all know, Americans bloody love customer service. The staff here are always bright, polite and ready to point out any special offers you might need. A lot of the time, that is a massive chair you don’t need, or a ‘storage solution’ for stuff you don’t own, but they were very accommodating when the boyf needed a new printer; helping him choose the best value option and also throwing in a whole load of boring printery stuff, paper, cartridges, free!
I am totally on-​side with Ad Dad; Staples rocks, and I can’t help but get a little excited every time I go. Especially if, like last time, they have a huge array of fake shrubs ‘for the office, or home!’ I didn’t buy one, but they did allow me to hilariously hide from the (long-​suffering) boyf for 15 minutes. Sharpies, plastic shrubbery, and big chairs. Yay for Staples!

Staples aren’t the most exciting of office supplies, in fact they can be downright dangerous as anyone who has ever had their finger be victim to the stapler can attest (not that I’m in that list… okay, I wasn’t CONCENTRATING!). So it’s a good job that Staples doesn’t just sell staples. It sells staplers as well.
I’m just kidding. Staples is actually a pretty nifty office supply store (I alarmingly discovered whilst at a conference in Calgary that they have them over in Canada too), and the one in Regent Retail Park is gargantuan, tantamount to warehouse proportions. You might not even be aware of the sheer variety of stuff that’s sold here. It’s not just your post-​its, pens, printer paper, ink, toner (whatever that is…
) and… STAPLES, would you believe it. You can get printers, scanners, laptops, things that need toner, big office chairs, desks, lamps… everything you’d need to kit out your study. And as somebody who has a mini study in the corner of her bedroom, I might not need the big items but I can always stock up on pen holders and plastic wallets.
There’s a lot of interesting household stuff too, like those tabs that hold pictures and Christmas decorations up. I’ve always found the prices in Staples to be really reasonable, so next time you’re stuck for a computer accessory or desktop necessity, get over to this one as it’s one of the largest outlets in Manchester.