STAPLES AND SENSORMATIC TEAM UP TO
HELP FIGHT THEFT WITH SOURCE TAGGING PROGRAM

BOCA RATON, Fla., January 22, 2001 -- Sensormatic Electronics Corporation (NYSE: SRM), the leading worldwide supplier of electronic security to the retail industry, today announced that Staples, Inc., the pioneer of the office superstore industry, will initiate a source tagging program with Sensormatic’s Ultra·Max® technology.

“We are constantly looking at ways to increase our profits and one way is through lower losses from theft. That led us to the decision to implement a source tagging program with the Ultra·Max technology,” said Paul Lunt, Staples’ vice president of Loss Prevention. “We have seen how successful source tagging programs using Ultra·Max have been in other retail segments and feel that we can derive the same type of benefits.”

This decision by Staples now means that nearly every major retailer from most of the major market segments use Ultra·Max for their source tagging programs including Wal-Mart, CVS, AutoZone, Musicland, Federated Department Stores, The Sports Authority and The Home Depot.

“Our roster of customers reads like the ‘who’s who’ of the retail industry,” commented Jerry Kendall, Sensormatic’s executive vice president of its Americas Operations. “Adding Staples to our impressive client list further lends credibility to the Ultra·Max technology and its ability to help our retail partners improve their operations through decreased losses due to theft and improve their sales through open merchandising.”

``Safe Harbor'' Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Staples, Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are ``forward-looking statements'' that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ``Risk Factors'' in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-Q for the most recently ended quarter.

Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) headquartered in Framingham, Mass., is a $9 billion retailer of office supplies, furniture and technology to consumers and businesses to Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered outside of Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The Company has over 50,000 employees serving customers through more than 1,200 office superstores, mail order catalog, e-commerce and contract business. More information on Staples is available at www.staples.com.

Sensormatic Electronics Corporation (NYSE: SRM) is the leading supplier of electronic security solutions to the retail, commercial and industrial marketplaces. Sensormatic is also the leader in integrated source tagging - a process where consumer goods manufacturers insert anti-theft tags at the point of manufacturing or packaging. The Company has been named the Official Electronic Security Supplier and a Sponsor of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and is a sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team through 2004.