Staples

Price on the shelves are not the same as price at the cashier counter when checking out. Totally tricky. Some of their staff are helpful but I cannot comprehend the reason behind this strange phenomenon regarding the inconsistencies between the two prices for the same product.
And of course, the «actual» price in their system is totally higher than the price tags they label clearly on the shelves in the aisles by almost 20% in my experience. And if it weren’t me noticing the price differences on their cashier screen immediately, I may as well have been overcharged by a great amount without ever realizing it happening.
And some products are absolutely way over priced than the majority of the market prices for the same product, particularly, their calculators, in my case.

Perfectly fine Staples — the floor displays were a little messy but the aisles were all clean and well-​organized… and mostly well-​stocked. A few things missing here and there, but I have definitely seen much worse when it comes to Big Box supply stores like Staples, so I can’t complain too much.
It’s actually not a humongous store when you think about how these warehouse-​style places can be, but it does good business since it’s so close to George Mason High School (I myself remember filling up on school supplies from this Staples way, way, way, waaaay back in the day.
Since traffic on Route 7 tends to get a little crazy when school lets out and during rush hour (all the people trying to get to 495 or 66… le sigh), I recommend avoiding the East Falls Plaza (where this store is located) at high-​peak traffic times.

This is a much better store than in Tysons. The assistant manager, Ashan, was very helpful and made my exchange experience easy and stress-​free.

We visited this store four evenings ago because we had a one-​day 40% discount coupon. The toner we needed wasn’t on the shelf — so we waylaid someone who turned out to be the manager, and he quickly retrieved more by climbing up to a high shelf on the far side of the store. He was very pleasant, as was the cashier.

Besides the messy aisles, the lack of customer service, and the slow lines, the main reason for the one star rating is this:
I saw a bag on sale for $ 29.99, so I decided to get it. At the counter, the cashier rings it as $ 50. I tell him it was placed for sale, and he calls his manager. This manager was truly horrible.
He immediately lashed out at me, barking «Where’d you find that???», and I offered to take him to the spot. When I took him there, he quickly blamed his employees, saying that they must have misplaced the object on the wrong spot. I told him that before they would honor a product’s price for where the customer found it, but he didn’t even blink before shrugging that off. I said fine enough, although I was expecting some sort of apology on his behalf for the confusion, since he is the manager and all, but he acted very self-​righteous and just went on his way. I never expected a manager to behave so rudely to a customer.
I’ve been going to this Staples for many years, and I’ve never seen it in worse condition than it is in right now, and no doubt the management is a reflection of this. Extremely disappointed.

Very convenient Staples. Most of the time, they have sales items in stock, especially within the first couple days of the sale. The staff is hit or miss. Some days, everyone says «hi» and helps. Other days, you are left standing in line for one staff member in the entire store. I like their «Easy rebates,» since they will e-​mail them straight to your paypal account. They also have really kooky, nifty things, like a tradition phone attachment to your iphone, or «as seen on TV stuff» or «Designer» holders for post-​its. It’s nice for a nork like me.

I like getting copies made here, quick and simple. Doesn’t usually take more than half an hour to get 300 copies made, collated and stapled (during non rush times). It’s on my way home from work, so convenient too.
Unfortunately, their motto is «that was easy.» Not really. I was looking for some 2-​tab manila folders that I bought a few months ago and they only had 3 and 5-​tab (or 1/​3, ¹⁄₅ cut). After I told the sales associate I couldn’t find them in the aisle, he took me back there again just to confirm. Nope, not there… not even a label where it may have been stocked. He suggested going online because you can get anything delivered to you there ($ 9.95 for shipping)! I compared the prices of the folders to Office Depot and they were nearly $ 2 more for the same amount.
I also dislike that you can’t exit from the same door you came in, although it opens automatically when you walk by. That’s probably just me though.