Corporate Express was launched in 1987 in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A, as a business to business stationery products supplier. The company expanded rapidly in North America and into Australia and New Zealand. Keen to continue this expansion in the United Kingdom, the company acquired Chisholm's in 1996, a £35 million turnover business. Over the next 2 years, the company acquired a further 12 companies, increasing UK turnover to £85 million gross.

In 1999, Corporate Express merged with Buhrmann to become the largest office supplies company in the world. As a result, the UK operation now reported to Burhmann in Holland rather than Corporate Express America. The merger also added a further £20 million to the UK operation with the acquisition of Copy Graphic.

2001 saw further expansion into Europe with the acquisition of the European office products division of the Samas Group. In the UK this resulted in a merger between Corporate Express and Universal Office Supplies. The merger took 18 months and included the consolidation of many sites and the relocation of head office from Elstree to Birmingham.

Today, Corporate Express has operations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Through exclusive strategic partnerships, Corporate Express can deliver product to China, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey.

Corporate Express UK operations have 15 locations, including 2 distribution centres, and the Company employs approximately 500 people.