Boucherville (Quebec), April 14, 2011 – RONA inc. (TSX: RON, RON.PR.A), the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, announced the official opening of its Matériaux Décoren affiliate store today. The store’s new address at 1276 Vachon Boulevard North in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec is strategically located on the city’s main commercial strip in a new building. The store, owned by RONA affiliate dealer-owners Nathalie Lagrange and Marc-André Drouin, has doubled in size from 7,000 to 15,000 square feet. The store’s relocation from its old premises two kilometres away represents an investment of close to $10 million. The number of employees has also nearly doubled, from 26 to 45. Besides the Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce store, the co-owners have a second RONA affiliate store in Saint-Elzéar, Quebec.
“We are proud to welcome our loyal customers to this new, bright and spacious location. We’re convinced that people will love our new store, which has a much more extensive line of products to offer, still at very competitive prices, of course,” said co-owner Nathalie Lagrange. “We’ve expanded our team as well so we can provide even better service to customers in construction and renovation, whether they’re budding do-it-yourselfers or professionals and construction entrepreneurs. For contractors, we have a special counter with complete service and staff trained especially to meet their specific needs. Everything is in order to ensure they can get their materials and supplies quickly and get back to work.”
“We’re happy to be celebrating the opening of this store in its new location, which attests to RONA’s success in the Beauce and helps us consolidate our local leadership,” said Mario St-Louis, RONA vice president of retail in Quebec. “This announcement is extra special because the two young owners are among the first to have participated in the ambitious succession plan that RONA launched in 2009 to make it easier for family members of independent retailers, RONA employees or aspiring entrepreneurs from other companies to acquire RONA stores. Nathalie Lagrange and Marc-André Drouin had already been working in the RONA network for 18 years and they were able to tap into the RONA development fund to acquire stores in Sainte-Marie and Saint-Elzéar last January. Today’s news shows how hard they have worked to consolidate their operations and increase their competitive position in the region.”
The 15,000-square-foot Matériaux Décoren affiliate store in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce also offers a 17,000-square-foot covered storage area and a huge 143,000-square-foot lumberyard. Customers will also appreciate the selection of over 14,000 different products.
The store now offers a new interior decoration service, as well as a RONA specialized paint colour boutique, and a door and window boutique. There is also a wide selection of eco-responsible products and a complete range of services, including construction and design, cutting, delivery and special orders.
About RONA
RONA is the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products. RONA operates a network of over 950 corporate, franchise and affiliate stores of various sizes and formats. With close to 30,000 employees working under its family of banners in every region of Canada and more than 17 million square feet of retail space, the RONA store network generates over $6 billion in annual retail sales. For more information, please visit www.rona.ca. www.rona.ca.
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