Throwback Thursday is a regular weekly feature in which we dip into the archives of the Hardlines Weekly Report.
RONA’s path to national prominence was not without some hiccups. One of them was the Quebec giant’s decision to open a RONA Retail Ontario office in Toronto, to give it—theoretically—an advantage in its pursuit of national expansion. On Feb. 7, 2000, a quarter of a century ago, we reported that Rick Blickstead, a veteran retail executive at Holt Renfrew, BiWay, Walmart, and Peoples Jewellers, had been hired to run that office. About 18 months later, Blickstead departed, shortly after RONA acquired Western Canada-based Revy Home Centres Ltd., giving it 50 stores, many of them big boxes.
