FedEx Office

November 6, 2025 - Unlike its main competitor, the UPS Store, which is franchised, all FedEx Office stores are corporate-owned. Paul Orfalea, whose nickname was "Kinko" because of his curly hair, founded the company as Kinko's in 1970. Its first copy shop, which Orfalea opened with a sidewalk copy machine, was ...

The company's goal is to have 2,000 stores by the year 2000. On January 2, 1997, Kinko's announced the roll-up of the 130 decentralized joint venture, corporate, and partnership entities operating under its name into a single corporate structure. Kinko's founder, Paul J.

Kinko's Copies Corp. was founded in 1970 by Paul Orfalea, a young man of Lebanese ancestry who gave the company the nickname given him for his curly red hair. Self-described as mechanically inept and dyslexic, he was a "C" student at the University ...

Kinko's Copies Corporation was founded in 1970 by Paul Orfalea, who gave the company the nickname given to him for his curly red hair. Self-described as mechanically inept and dyslexic, he was a "C" student at the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1971 with a degree ...

December 10, 2015 - FedEx was finding challenges in catching up with its chief rival, seeing business stagnate for five years. In the biggest move in the company’s 32-year history, FedEx purchased Kinko’s copy and print business from private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2003 to counter.

USC had a copy place, but it occurred to him that college students had a need for copying and other kinds of services. Orfalea opened his first Kinko’s at the University of California at Santa Barbara in September of 1970. On the first day of school, he stood outside selling notebooks and pens to student passersby.

July 16, 2019 - In his mournful comments, Orfalea said that Kinko’s used to be about ‘shared power, shared profits, and shared knowledge,’ but that the Kinko’s he created ‘has been gone for a very long time.’ ... Just like Elvis -- in more ways than one, he suggests. Orfalea ended his statement remembering what John Lennon reportedly said when asked about the death of Elvis Presley in 1977: ‘Elvis died when he went in the army.’ · ‘As music historians note,’ Orfalea said, ‘Presley entered the army [in 1958] as a rock and roller, but returned as a crooner and movie star.

June 3, 2008 - No More Kinko's: FedEx Changes Copy Shops' Name FedEx bought the Kinko's chain of copy shops in 2004, and the name changed to FedEx-Kinko's.

If things had gone differently, the copy chain might have been called Straighto’s—Orfalea briefly tried to straighten his curly hair. The first Kinko’s store was in Santa Barbara near UC-Santa Barbara. The walls had mermaids painted on the sides and a single copier.

May 1, 2024 - Our guest, Paul Orfalea, isn't just any entrepreneur; he's the brilliant mind behind Kinko's, a company that redefined the business services landscape. Paul founded Kinko's in 1970 with a simple idea and a $5,000 loan.

June 28, 2012 - He is a visiting professor in the ... at the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business. He founded Kinkos in 1970 with a $5,000 bank loan co-signed by his parents....

November 10, 2025 - His first store, which he rented for $100 a month was a small single office space adjacent to a hamburger stand in the Isla Vista neighborhood where the majority of students from UC Santa Barbara resided. Orfalea began selling notebooks, pens, pencils, and the services of a copying machine at 4 cents per copy. Within ten years, Kinko's grew to a network of over 80 stores across the country.

October 11, 2021 - The Kinko’s concept was sparked in 1969 when Paul, then a student at the University of Southern California (USC), noticed his fellow students lining up at a copy machine in a library, so he saw an opportunity there.

With more than 830 outlets in early 1996, located in every state of the union and four foreign countries—Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the Netherlands—it was providing photocopies, quick printing and finishing services, electronic document distribution and production, mailing services, and time rentals on personal computers, usually at any hour of the day or night. About 145 locations had a special room for conducting videoconferences. A private company, Kinko’s does not release its sales figures.

Paul Orfalea started the first shop in 1970 in a tiny converted hamburger stand near UC Santa Barbara, called it Kinko’s after his childhood nickname, and eventually grew it into a sprawling global chain.

Acquired Kinko’s—operational since 1970—a provider of copying, printing, film processing, and office supplies to individuals, businesses, and commercial print buyers through its 800+ stores; rebranded it as FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print ...

Join us for an exclusive talk with Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko's. Paul founded Kinko's as a small copy shop next to UC Santa Barbara in 1970 before growing it to over 1,200 stores worldwide and 23,000 employees.

May 5, 2007 - Paul Orfalea, who was nicknamed Kinko for the full head of curly black hair he sported in 1970 when he founded the company — originally to serve students at the University of California, Santa Barbara — says he will not step inside the stores ...

Our roots as a foundation go back over 40 years, to the college town of Isla Vista, California, where Paul Orfalea opened a small copy shop called Kinko’s. Based on the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship and collaborative partnership, the innovative business grew to become the world’s ...

Unlike its main competitor, the UPS Store, which is franchised, all FedEx Office stores are corporate-owned. Paul Orfalea, whose nickname was "Kinko" because of his curly hair, founded the company as Kinko's in 1970. Its first copy shop, which Orfalea opened with a sidewalk copy machine, was ...