all rolled into one. It attracted civil servants from various government departments, bankers, hoteliers and others across a spectrum of Bermuda businesses. Even senior officials of a labour union were represented.

Every office needs staples, and a host of other office products. But that is not the reason why Staples Ltd. president, Mr. Mark White should not have been surprised that 375 people took advantage of a free lunch at the Princess Hotel yesterday, just before the company staged a sizeable trade show.

Among the introductions, the applause, the slide show, the jokes and the laughter, Mr. White, as a corporate master of ceremonies, recognised employee Mr. Arthur Tatem, who will have been with the company for 37 years this April, and who will retire this summer.

In an atmosphere that conjured up the vision of a game show host yelling "Come on down'', it was a chance to give away cameras and brief cases as door prizes in an uptempo marketing effort that symbolises the sales push being exerted by companies seeking to stake a claim to significant market share in the office supplies and office equipment business.

It is a market that is beginning to mushroom.

Mr. White has forecast that his company will see a huge growth in sales in the coming year, with a 43 percent increase in the sales of office supplies.

Mr. White said: "Our revenue growth last year was really staggering, significant growth, over-all 41 percent. And at the end of our fiscal year, March 31, we will have had sales of $5.5 million. And next year, we anticipate a boom year, with revenues growing 54 percent.

"Our office equipment revenue was extremely gratifying, a 69 percent spurt.'' He said that more colour is being used in copiers and the international business community has been largely responsible for the growth in the use of copiers.

He said: "In office supplies, which is really our bread and butter, where we saw a tremendous growth of 45 percent last year, we anticipate at the end of our fiscal year to have done $3.5 million worth of business. Next year, we are anticipating $5 million worth of sales in office supplies alone.'' Staples staff went from 24 to 33 over this past year. New training is anticipated this year for staff and a 12,000 square foot warehouse and distribution centre is guaranteeing certain deliveries in 24 hours.

But the Staples Annual Products show was also a chance for a 3M company account executive, Mr. Bob Haney, to make it clear that Staples was the one and only authorised 3M distributor in Bermuda.

"Please take advantage of the full and complete warranty of 3M products that only Staples can offer to you,'' Mr. Haney said to loud applause. It was a less than subtle poke at a competitor that has also marketed 3M items.

The multi-national 3M company, which has some 60,000 products, and which garnered $15 billion in sales last year, had 15 divisions represented at the show.

Staples have been marketing 3M products for just three months, after taking over the line from Midsea Company, which was winding down after 32 years.

S.P. Richards, the wholesaler of Rubbermaid office products, was also represented, together with a catalogue of more than 19,000 items.

The third firm with displays at the trade show was Ricoh, which had a number of new office automation products.

IS IT ON? Works & Engineering buyer Mrs. Sonia Pearman gets a friendly demonstration of new office technology from Ricoh Corporation sales engineer Mr. Stephen Nichols at the Staples trade show yesterday.