Office Depot Sends NASCAR Star Carl Edwards 'Back to School'; New 'Great Tools for Your School Sweeps' Awards A School Over $65,000 Worth of New Technology and Classroom Supplies To Be Personally Delivered by Edwards

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--July 13, 2006--With summer fun still in high gear, Office Depot , a leading global provider of office products and services, and NASCAR star Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, are ready to help schools, parents, kids and teachers prepare for the upcoming school year. As part of the Company's back-to-school lesson plan, Office Depot, the "Official Office Products Partner of NASCAR" is launching its "Great Tools for Your School Sweeps," a national promotion that will award one lucky school with school supplies, technology, student scholarship money, merchandise cards for teachers and even a personal visit by Edwards.

Office Depot's "Great Tools for Your School Sweeps" features an incredible prize package in which one lucky school will be randomly chosen to win over $65,000 worth of new school supplies and technology products. Prizes include supplies from Office Depot; Toshiba computers; Sanford writing instruments; and 3M overhead projectors and LCD projectors. Edwards will personally deliver the prizes to the school in the No. 99 Office Depot race car hauler. Office Depot will also provide $99 Office Depot merchandise cards for the winning school's teachers and a $9,999 student scholarship. Plus, the winning school's name will appear on the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion during one NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race. Edwards, who is an Ambassador for Youth for National PTA, will also personally speak at the winning school and address the student body about the importance of education in helping kids achieve their dreams.

"Before my racing career took off, I was a substitute teacher and education has always been among the most important things in my life," said Edwards. "It is really awesome to be a part of Office Depot's new 'Great Tools for Your School Sweeps' program where a lucky school is going to win a bunch of great products that can help make a difference in the classroom. I can't wait to drive up to the winning school and deliver all the prizes to the kids and the teachers."

Students, parents, teachers, and consumers are all encouraged to enter the "Great Tools For Your School Sweeps" and help their local school. The promotion is tied directly to Office Depot's 5% Back to Schools Program that turns customer purchases into credits schools can use for classroom supplies.

To enter a school in the "Great Tools for Your School Sweeps," simply give your school's 5% Back to Schools ID number at checkout when purchasing qualifying school supplies at Office Depot stores, or via phone when ordering at 1-800-GO-DEPOT or shopping online at www.officedepot.com. Once you provide the school's ID number with your purchase, that school is automatically entered into the sweepstakes. The "Great Tools For Your School Sweeps" ends on September 30, 2006. See sweepstakes official rules for directions on how to enter without purchase.

"Office Depot is very proud to showcase our commitment to education by creating this fun, new promotion that not only provides new supplies and technology to a winning school but also encourages more involvement in our 5% Back to Schools Program," said Tony Ueber, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Office Depot. "We are really looking forward to bringing Carl Edwards back to school to personally deliver the prizes and meet with the kids and teachers."

For more information on the 5% Back to Schools Program and complete sweepstakes rules, visit www.school.com and click on the links for "5% Back to School of Your Choice" and "Great Tools for Your School Sweepstakes!"

About Office Depot

With annual sales of over $14 billion, Office Depot provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company. Incorporated in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, Office Depot conducts business in 23 countries and employs about 47,000 people worldwide.

Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel - from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. With over $3.8 billion of sales, the Company is one of the world's largest e-commerce retailers. As of April 1, 2006, Office Depot had 1,049 retail stores in North America. Internationally, the Company conducts wholly-or majority-owned operations in 16 countries, and operates retail stores under joint venture and license arrangements in another five countries.

The company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index.

Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.