NEW OFFICE-SUPPLY STORE WILL BE DEDICATED TO FORMER AREA RESIDENT

Bill Dumey is not a household name, but the Cape Girardeau native's name will be before the public this weekend when Staples Office Superstore holds its grand opening in Cape West Business Park.

The store, in a 26,000-square-foot building at 294 Siemers Drive in Cape West Plaza Shopping Center, is being dedicated to Dumey, a Staples associate living near London, England.

Dumey, who joined Staples a half-dozen years ago as director of store operations for Staples Express, is operations controller for Staples UK.

In his present assignment, he is responsible for all store operations for Staples' joint-venture office superstores in the United Kingdom.

Staples Inc., operator of 547 office superstores throughout North America, will celebrate the grand opening of its newest store Saturday.

"We don't typically dedicate new stores," said Jean Papagni of the Staples public information department in Westborough, Mass. "Occasionally we dedicate in honor of a longtime employee."

The Cape Girardeau store is the first in Missouri, said Papagni. "We're excited to enter a new state. With Dumey being a Cape Girardeau native, it also gives us a chance to honor his performances with Staples."

The ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony will take place at 8:30 a.m.

Dumey won't be present for the dedication.

Dumey, who was born in Cape Girardeau and lived in the Scott City area during his childhood, attended Southeast Missouri State University from 1964 to 1966, before transferring to the University of Nebraska, from which he graduated in 1969.

He previously served as a regional manger for Brooks Drug Inc. and district manger for Osco Drug Inc. before joining Staples.

Dumey's parents, Theon and Virginia Dumey, live in Cape Girardeau, and a brother, John Dumey, lives in Gordonville.

Tom Stemberg, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Staples Inc., said the store was being dedicated to Dumey for his many contributions to the company.

James Clark, manager of the new Staples operation, will host the event.

Clark, who joined Staples as manager about six weeks ago, was previously manager at the Office I Superstore, where he worked two years.

"We opened the Cape Girardeau Staples Store in late October," Clark said. "We're proud to be a part of the Cape Girardeau business community and look forward to our grand opening Saturday."

Staples' goal, said Clark, is to provide quality office products and savings. The store offers more than 7,000 brand-name office products.

"We also offer office furniture, computers and business machines, along with assorted computer software," said Clark. The store also features fax services, photocopying, binding services and FedEx services.

Staples recorded $3.1 billion in sales in 1995, a 53 percent increase over 1994.

Staples operates superstore in more than 100 markets in the U.S. and Canada under the names of Staples, The Office Superstore; Staples Express and Business Depot.

Staples celebrated its 10-year anniversary in May, with more than 500 superstores and 22,000 associates worldwide. The company is the sixth company during the past quarter century of U.S. business to reach the $3 billion sales mark in under 10 years.

Staples recently announced that it is buying Office Depot for $3.35 billion, combining the nation's two largest office-supply giants to create a chain of nearly 1,100 stores in the United States and Canada.

The new company, Staples/Office Depot, will cut overhead by combining some operations, including mail-order business, the company said. But the company also said the overall number of employees will increase because the new company hopes to open 100 more stores within two years.