The rebranding of Lowe’s stores in Canada continues as RONA inc. works to shed the brand after being sold by Lowe’s Cos. near the beginning of this year. Under the ownership of New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners, 62 Lowe’s stores in this country were targeted for rebranding, which involved renaming them with the RONA name—but with a twist.

RONA+ is the new banner. It has been applied to the Lowe’s stores in Ontario, and now the company has taken the changeover outside of that province, announcing the renaming and reopening of RONA+ stores in the following locations:

• Winnipeg East
• Winnipeg South
• Saskatoon
• Regina
• Nanaimo (shown here)
• Victoria – Tillicum
• Victoria – Langford

The conversion of the former Lowe’s store to the RONA+ banner is part of a wider plan aimed at redefining how Canadians shop for home improvement and represents a significant local investment. Through this process, the company is looking to build on the strong legacy of the RONA brand and build momentum for the Canadian-operated household name.

The latest banner changes add to the list of some 25 stores, all in Ontario, that have already been converted. In addition, the brand consolidation has resulted in the closing of one Lowe’s store, in Vaughan Ont., as well as two RONA stores: a Home & Garden big box in London, Ont., and another store in Belleville, Ont.

According to Jean-Sébastien Lamoureux, SVP for RONA affiliates, wholesale, and public affairs, the company plans to have more than half of the Lowe’s stores converted to the RONA+ banner by the end of the year.

Canadian Tire Retail faces slightly lower traffic and negative comps in Q3

Canadian Tire Corp. reported a Q3 net loss of $66.4 million, compared with earnings of $184.9 million a year earlier. That loss includes $328 million in costs related to CTC’s buyback from Scotiabank of a minority stake in its Canadian Tire Financial Services business. Revenues for the period rose 0.5 percent to $4.25 billion, while consolidated comparable sales were down 1.6 percent as a result of softening customer demand, especially in Ontario and British Columbia.

Canadian Tire stores saw sales drop by nine percent, while comp sales fell by 0.6 percent. Store traffic was also down, though modestly, from last year’s third quarter. However, post-Covid, the company continues to identify its business according to essential and discretionary categories. Essential categories at CTR were up around 4 percent, led by strength in automotive, while discretionary categories were down by about the same amount.

Softness in home projects drove a decline in CTR’s Fixing category, while higher sales of pet and household cleaning were the drivers behind a modest increase in the Living category.

There were a couple of other bright spots as well. “Comp traffic at CTR was down by only half a percentage point, and basket size remained relatively steady,” said Greg Hicks, president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp., on a call to analysts. And performance by CTC’s private labels continued to grow as they appeal to budget-conscious shoppers. “From a sales perspective, we had strong performance in two of our most profitable owned brands, Motomaster and Pro Series, with sales up 10 percent and 26 percent respectively in the quarter,” Hicks added.

In announcing the results, the company also said it is eliminating three percent of its work force before year’s end, with some cuts already in place. The redundancies affect the equivalent of 200 full-time corporate positions. It is also cancelling “the majority of current vacancies” in its ranks, which amounts to an additional three percent reduction in its human resources.

AQMAT Gala draws record crowd to honour Quebec industry

AQMAT, the Quebec hardware and building materials association, held its 11th Recognition Gala this month at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal. Awards recognized 54 employees, products, and companies in front of a record audience of 530 guests. AQMAT president Richard Darveau was joined by actor Jeff Boudreault of TV’s District 31 as co-host.

The event is a must-attend for the entire Quebec industry, drawing independent dealers and their staff, plus wholesalers, buying groups, and executive head offices from both the retail and vendor sides.

The gala will take a break next year as AQMAT collaborates with the 28th annual Hardlines Conference to create a pan-Canadian event in La Malbaie, Que. Then, the Recognition Gala will move back to the Fairmont Château Frontenac in Quebec City, where it will be held March 27, 2025.

With seating capacity of only 400, the Quebec City venue will be smaller than this year's Montreal event, which may compel the association to limit attendance from each company, said AQMAT CEO Crystelle Cormier. “To give more people a chance to participate, we are considering limiting the number of places per company.”

(Click here to see a list of all the winners at the Recognition Gala.)

BMR Group held its 2023 Buying Show this month at Quebec City’s Centre des congrès. A record-setting 1,500 dealers, vendors, and partners converged on the historic city to share hot products and services, as well as to showcase private-label brands. Vendors who spoke to Hardlines expressed positivity and enthusiasm about the pace of sales this year.

The event concluded with a gala evening held right in the Centre des congrès and hosted by strongman and brand ambassador Hugo Girard along with comedian Korine Côté. The duo’s seamlessly bilingual repartee accompanied a five-course gourmet dinner.

Addressing the 1,000-strong audience, CEO Alexandre Lefebvre boasted that “again this year we have not lost a single BMR dealer to our competitors.” He added, “BMR is growing at a faster pace than anyone else in our industry. We have an NHL-level team—and I’m not talking about the Ottawa Senators!”

Vendor awards were presented in the categories of LBM (Duchesne et fils), hardware (Ipex), forest products (Tolko), and agriculture/horticulture (Garant). Among BMR’s member retailers, Marianne and Mathieu Moisan of BMR Paulin Moisan, based in Saint-Raymond, Que., were honoured with the Ambassador Award. It was just the latest recognition for these two cousins, who were already named Young Retailers of the Year at Hardlines’ 2022 Outstanding Retailer Awards.

Finally, new dealers who joined BMR over the past year were inducted with a fun NHL-style “draft” announcement. They are H. Dagenais et fils inc. (Saint-Sauveur, Que.), Centre de rénovation Senneterre (Senneterre, Que.), Group Anctil (Magog and Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, Que.), and Leis Lumber Co. Ltd. (Goderich, Ont.). A professionally produced short film took the gathered company behind the scenes of the newly recruited stores, allowing the dealers to speak directly to the audience.

At Grainger, Cecelia Myers has been named VP, group product manager. Myers was most recently VP, digital, at CDW. Previously, she held a series of positions at Groupon and co-founded CakeStyle, an online women’s styling business.

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RETAILER NEWS

RONA inc. has laid off 25 workers at its Boucherville, Que., warehouse, Le Journal de Montréal reports. A spokesperson for the company cited “a surplus of personnel” in explaining the move. In total, some 1,550 employees work at the Boucherville operations, which include RONA’s head office and the distribution centre.

The Home Depot reported third-quarter sales of $37.7 billion, a decrease of three percent from the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Comparable sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 decreased 3.1 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. decreased 3.5 percent. However, in local currency, Canada posted comps above the company average. Net earnings were $3.8 billion, compared with $4.3 billion in Q3 2022.

Canadian Tire Corp. has unveiled Canada’s Christmas Lists, a new gift registry platform that allows customers to build, share, and shop personalized Christmas lists. Shoppers can add their most-wanted items to their list and share with friends and family using a personalized URL. The digitally secure registry, powered by MyRegistry.com, will remain available beyond Christmas for birthdays, weddings, and other special occasions.

Amazon had remained union-free until 84 Amazon delivery drivers in Palmdale, Calif., formed a union in June. They were employees of a firm called Battle Tested Strategies (BTS), one of 3,000 “delivery service partners” (DSPs) that works with Amazon around the world. Amazon subsequently cancelled their agreement with BTS and the drivers went on strike. The drivers claim they are joint-employees of Amazon. Amazon claims they are not their employees.

Discount retailers TJ Maxx and Marshalls will close additional stores in Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania by the end of next year. That’s after closures this year in Philadelphia and in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Parent company TJX said it had been “assessing and reviewing our real estate strategies, and our decision to close this store reflects that thinking.”

Taiga Building Products reported Q3 sales of $456.6 million, down 14 percent or $76.5 million from $533.1 million a year earlier. The decline was attributed largely to lower selling prices for commodity products. Net earnings for the quarter rose to $21.4 million from $18.6 million in the previous Q3, thanks to income tax recoveries from the prior year.

Sales of existing homes declined by 5.6 percent month-over-month in October. The actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions came in 0.9 percent above October 2022. The number of newly listed homes fell 2.3 percent, the first decline since March. (Canadian Real Estate Assoc.)