'Staples Rock' Has Put Orleans Marketplace On The Social Media Map

ORLEANS – Step aside, Nauset Beach. The biggest summer attraction in Orleans is a rock.

 That’s right, a rock. A big one. Right outside of Staples.

 The large boulder, which was unearthed earlier this spring during sewer work in Orleans Marketplace on Route 6A, sits fenced off on an island in the parking lot in front of the chain store. In recent weeks, what has become known as “Staples Rock” has taken on a life of its own online, with people posting pictures with the stony mass and others creating their own unique spinoffs on social media.

 “What they did is create the best marketing no one can pay for,” said Janice Otis, business manager for Cape Cod Brokerage, which owns the shopping plaza.

 The rock was discovered while the parking lot was being excavated to install sewer mains on the property, Otis said. Left with the option of either blowing it up or removing it, Otis made the case for getting it out of the ground in one piece and preserving it as a landscape feature in the parking lot. 

 “If you go into my office, I probably have 50 rocks sitting around my office,” she said. “I’m a rock person. I have rocks from all over the world, so getting rid of this would have been a heartbreaker for me.”

 Otis said her boss, Todd Thayer, didn’t come to the decision to keep the rock casually. Instead, she said a careful cost-benefit analysis was done before it was ultimately decided to situate the rock not far from the site where a motorist crashed into the store in May 2024. 

 But what has happened since goes far beyond anything Otis said she could have ever imagined. She said she’s “shocked” by how popular the rock has become.

 “It’s become a story,” she said. “Once it becomes a story, it’s our responsibility to allow people to enjoy the story.”

 Social media has turned the slab into a summertime sensation. People have posed for photos in front of and on top of the rock. Others have cheekily Photoshopped it into a Citizens Bank, situated Sen. Bernie Sanders atop it and placed the rock atop the South Orleans rotary.

 “I love what they’re doing with it,” Otis said. “They’re playing.”

 Staples Rock has no doubt helped put the plaza on the map, quite literally. The rock has its own designation on a Google Maps search of the property.

 So what do employees of the Orleans Staples think of their newly-minted namesake? The store’s manager, Haley Weller, said the store has benefited from the plaza’s newfound celebrity.

 “It’s generated quite a bit of business,” she said.

 Next door, Kelly Lungo, owner of Salty Crown Boutique, knew immediately what this reporter had come to talk about.

“You want to ask about the rock,” she said.

While the viral rock hasn’t necessarily impacted her business’ bottom line, Lungo said it’s been fun to watch the sensation unfold. 

 “It’s just so stupid that it’s funny,” she said.

 Lungo recalled witnessing discussion around the rock start to crop up online in community Facebook groups shortly after it was taken out of the ground, prompting her to share a photo of her situated on top of the rock.

 “To me, it was just a joke,” she said.

 But now it’s a joke that everyone’s in on. Local restaurants including the Yardarm have gone as far as to name drinks after the igneous phenomenon. “The Rock,” with its combination of cranberry Deep Eddy vodka, ginger beer and lime, has become a hit, said waitress and bartender Karen Menard.

 “They go out and visit the rock and then they have a rock drink,” she said. “It’s cute.”

 The rock is exactly what it is. There are no plaques, decorations or adornments affixed to it. So what exactly it is about it that’s captured everyone’s imagination is anybody’s guess. But for Lungo, the unexpectedness of it all is part of the fun.

 “Because if you go on the internet, it’s usually all so bad,” she said. “So it’s been nice to see people joking and making light of something.”

 Otis said if interest in the rock continues into the summer, there could be a proper naming and ribbon cutting event. There’s also been talk of hosting a “rock” concert on the property, she said.

 “It’s all quite fascinating,” she said. “It really is, because for some reason it brought this community together. It’s bringing eyes to Orleans.”