Leo Kahn, 94, co-founded Staples, dies

Leo Kahn, who co-founded Staples and helped start the age of "big box" retail stores, died Wednesday in Boston. He was 94.

Kahn first made his name in the grocery business in New England. He started Staples with a former competitor, Tom Stemberg, in 1985, and they started looking for new ideas outside groceries.

At the time, there were no office-supply superstores. Kahn and Stemberg scouted different types of stores. One day, visiting warehouse clubs, they noticed an abundance of office supplies on sale.

"I said to Leo, 'Let's do a Home Depot or Toys R Us for office products,' " Stemberg said. "He said, 'Let's go open a store.' " Stemberg became chief executive and Kahn, in his late 60s at the time, chairman.

While smaller rivals OfficeMax and Office Depot sprung up quickly, Staples has remained the largest and best-performing office-supply retailer, with revenue of $24.55 billion last year and 1,900 stores.

Kahn was born in Medford, Mass. He served in World War II and went to Harvard College and Columbia University School of Journalism.

He went on to open natural supermarkets Fresh Fields and Nature's Heartland, which Whole Foods bought in 1999.

"He was a guy who cared about people," Stemberg said. He remembers Kahn being upset with himself when he couldn't remember the name of someone he met 12 years before, and bringing pizza, soda and a much-needed pep talk to staff members on their third straight all-nighter the night before the first Staples opened in the Boston suburb of Brighton, Mass., in 1986.

Kahn was an innovator. Stemberg said it was Kahn's idea to put merchandise that caters to secretaries and office managers -- the people most likely to be buying office supplies -- at the front of the store to "make it fun to shop."

He also came up with the idea to have a meeting every month with all of Staples' employees to listen to their ideas.

"That vision survives today with 80,000 employees," said Stemberg. "That's Leo." -- AP