Staples Adds Party City and Stanton Optical Shops to 900 Stores

Staples is converting its 900 stores into community service hubs by expanding beyond office supplies. The company has added Party City shop-in-shops to roughly 700 stores and is piloting Stanton Optical locations in the Philadelphia market. These moves form part of a services-led approach that includes print services, UPS shipping, online returns, and other offerings.

The strategy is intended to address a shrinking retail category. The office supply market contracted from $14.2 billion in 2015 to $7.4 billion in 2025. Staples has been privately held since its 2017 acquisition by Sycamore Partners for $6.9 billion.

"Retail is highly competitive and ever evolving so we must keep adapting," said Marshall Warkentin, president of U.S. retail. " He said the effort began with print services, which he described as the heart of the stores, and expanded to UPS shipping, online product returns, TSA Precheck, party supplies and eyeglasses.

City entered roughly 700 Staples stores and the company website after its 2024 bankruptcy and closure of more than 800 standalone locations in early 2025. Staples began testing the shop-in-shops last summer. The partnership integrates with Staples printing services for personalized invitations, banners, signs and balloons.

"We understood the power of the Party City brand—it was still very much in people’s minds as a destination for party supplies," Warkentin said. " Recent sales have included Spider-Man and Moana licensed products. Stanton Optical is operating four pilot locations in the Philadelphia area that opened in February.

The optical shops provide eye exams and prescription glasses starting at about $40. Customers can receive single-lens prescriptions filled on site and often leave with glasses within an hour. "Since opening our four locations in the Philadelphia area in February, their teams have been a genuine collaborator from day one, bringing operational expertise and a willingness to innovate alongside us," said Daniel Stanton, founder and CEO of Now Optics, the parent company of Stanton Optical.

Staples also serves as a no-box, no-label return location for Amazon purchases and partners with Happy Returns to handle returns for about 1,000 retailers and brands. Roughly one in five online purchases is returned, more than double the in-store rate, creating consistent foot traffic.

The company further offers "Bins Wins," which sells discounted returned merchandise to provide a treasure-hunt shopping experience. Staples and its closest competitor, Office Depot/OfficeMax, both provide printing, shipping and related services to small businesses but have diverged in their consumer offerings.

Warkentin described the approach as a services-led, community-focused strategy that began with core small-business customers and has expanded to meet a broader range of needs.