Quill Corporation was a family owned office products mail order operation wanting to stay that way but was unable to find anyone to continue to run the business.

See, Staples, Inc. doesn't make anything, especially in the USA, but it simply operates storefronts, gobbling up Mom and Pop stores while destroying the free market system the USA thrived on. Its beginnings were nothing but predatory in the 1990s.

The Quill Office Supply Company was an operation begun in 1956 before China was put into manufacturing products with cheap labor.

...Then, without much warning or notice, (click title to entry - thank you) the Millers decided to sell Quill Corporation to Staples, Inc., one of their traditional competitors, in the winter of 1998. All of the brothers were growing older, with Jack Miller set to celebrate his 69th birthday during the year. Many of the company's employees were taken by surprise, as well as industry analysts and other people working in the office supply products industry. According to Jack Miller, the three brothers had wanted to keep the operation a family business; however, there was not one member of the younger generation within the family who was willing to assume the responsibilities and duties necessary to maintain the company's success. In addition, the Miller brothers could not find a suitable candidate from the outside that they thought could direct the firm into the future. Consequently, the three aging entrepreneurs sold Quill Corporation, with sales of $600 million in 1997, to Staples, Inc. for $685 million in stock.

In 1998 Staples was operating 582 superstores throughout the United States, with a comprehensive line of office supply products ranging from copy paper to office furniture. The acquisition of Quill, which management decided to run as an operating division under the Quill name and logo, gave Staples access not only to an extremely successful direct-mail catalogue market,...

Staples to Buy Quill in $685-Million Stock Deal (click here)

April 8, 1998

Staples Inc. said it will acquire closely held Quill Corp., which sells office supplies  by catalog, telemarketing the Internet, for about $685 million in stock. Staples, the world's largest operator of office superstores, said the purchase will add about 1 cent a share to its 1998 earnings before a charge of about $32 million, and will add about 2 cents in 1999. The retailer said it will issue about 30 million shares for Quill, which had sales of $550 million last year. Staples' contract and commercial business, which includes mail-order operations and contract stationer services to large corporations, had sales of about $1 billion, or 20% of its total revenue. Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Quill will retain its name, headquarters and management after the transaction, which is expected to close in the summer. Shares in Westborough, Mass.-based Staples rose 56 cents to close at $22.75 on Nasdaq.