Jun 25, 2007. /Lesprom Network/. xpedx, a supplier to the majority of U.S. commercial printers, announced on June 25, 2007 the start of operations in Canada this August with a new Canadian national headquarters, a 150 000 square foot distribution center and two new xpedx Paper & Graphics stores serving the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding cities. Company officials said they expected to open additional facilities across Canada starting in 2008, including a third store in the metro Toronto area. The company also plans to begin marketing and distributing packaging and janitorial-sanitary supplies and equipment in Canada in 2008. xpedx, a business of International Paper, is one of the largest business-to-business distribution companies in the U.S. with more than CAD 7.2 billion ($6.8 billion) in 2006 revenues. xpedx Canada, Inc. is a newly formed Canadian federal corporation and a subsidiary of International Paper. The new combined headquarters, distribution center and one of the two xpedx Paper & Graphics stores are located in Brampton, Ontario, northwest of downtown Toronto. xpedx said its second area store, a 10 000-square foot standalone facility, will open in Markham, Ontario. The third xpedx Paper & Graphics store slated for 2008 will locate west of Toronto. xpedx distributes a wide range of paper and graphics, packaging and janitorial-sanitary supplies and equipment from many manufacturers worldwide to printers and publishers, manufacturers, retailers and many other customers. xpedx is the largest supplier of environmentally responsible printing papers in North America, including third-party certified papers, recycled papers and papers with post-consumer waste content. "Large, mid-size and small printers in Toronto tell us they can benefit from a new supply source of printing papers and graphics products," said Art Douville, executive vice president of xpedx. "We bring printers deep inventories of branded papers, competitive pricing, rapid delivery and local sales and customer service personnel who are experts in paper and printing." xpedx is based in Loveland, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, operates 250 locations across North America and has more than 7 000 employees. International Paper is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, employs approximately 54 000 people in more than 20 countries, and serves customers worldwide. International Paper's 2006 sales were about $22 billion.