RONA inc. has developed a new reality show for Quebec television called Le grand chantier RONA. The retailer’s first TV effort in 14 years, it will begin airing sometime in 2024, and line up with RONA’s 85th anniversary next year.

The show will be hosted by the popular actor and comedian Marie-Lyne Joncas, and RONA claims it will be Quebec’s biggest home improvement competition, with 12 couples competing over 10 weeks to win a brand-new, fully furnished home worth $700,000.

The new program marks a return to French-language television for the Quebec-based retailer. It was created in partnership with French-language TV network Noovo and the production house Zone3. A show called Ma maison RONA ran from 2003 to 2009 and was a hit across the province. The new program is part of a concerted strategy to focus on the RONA brand now that the company is free of its ownership under Lowe’s Cos. (The Lowe’s Canada business was sold off at the beginning of the year to Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.) The Lowe’s-bannered stores in the retailer’s network are currently being converted to a new banner called RONA+.

“We’ve been dreaming of this show for three years,” says Catherine Laporte, VP of marketing for RONA inc. “We wanted to regain the brand leadership across Canada and the place to start was in Quebec, in our home province.”

The show will give an important lift to the RONA brand at home, says Laporte, as the company reinforces its brand post-Lowe’s—and prepares to promote its anniversary, which will land in September 2024. “There are some strong players in Quebec, but we have the leadership with 85 years in the province.”

While English-language TV must deal with spillover from U.S. content, which can dominate the airwaves, Quebec enjoys a strong home-grown entertainment industry. Laporte would love to see the show’s concept rolled out eventually to an English-speaking audience, as My RONA Home was in 2009.  “There’s no reason why RONA couldn’t come out with a home improvement reality show for all of Canada,” she says. “It just makes sense, but first we’ll see how it goes in Quebec.”

Veteran of Home Depot’s early days shares stories of the retailer’s growth and vision

The stories around the start of what is today’s the world’s largest home improvement retailer are filled with colourful characters, determination, and breaks—good and bad. Jim Inglis was there for much of it. He joined The Home Depot early in its growth, in 1983, at a time when the big box model was new, unproven, and widely ridiculed by competitors. He ended up becoming EVP of merchandising and EVP of strategic development before leaving the company 13 years later.

Inglis shared some memories of how Home Depot grew with delegates at the 27th Hardlines Conference, held last month in Whistler, B.C.

Home Depot got its start in 1980 and went public in 1983. Amidst the struggles and the victories that underscored the retailer’s growth, one factor was crucial to holding the company together, and that was its clearly defined culture—what he refers to as “bleeding orange.”

According to Inglis, co-founder Arthur Blank was the numbers guy. His partner Bernie Marcus was the culture and people person. And Pat Farrah, who had first initiated the concept in a store in California before Blank and Marcus joined, was the merchandising visionary. These three individuals formed the basis upon which that orange culture was established.

Inglis noted that by 1988 Home Depot had surpassed Lowe’s in sales. Another big competitor at the time was a chain called Scotty’s in Florida. Scotty’s issued its latest catalogue, proudly displaying its competitive pricing on a range of products. Home Depot staff rounded up the catalogues and put them on the end aisles of its stores, then wrote on them with magic markers that Home Depot would sell anything at 20 percent less than the Scotty’s prices. That take-no-prisoners approach was a cornerstone of the Home Depot philosophy. And that was the last time Scotty’s published a catalogue.

Inglis also talked about Home Depot’s entry into Canada. He admitted that the executives in the U.S. figured Canada to be something of a 51st state, similar to California in market size. But initial forays, with stores in British Columbia, did not go smoothly. That all changed when the company hired a Canadian, Annette Verschuren, to head the company. Within a few years, Canada was Home Depot’s fastest growing division. (PHOTO: Josef Povazan)

Is Canada on the brink of a recession? StatCan says ‘yes’

Amid high interest rates and higher costs, Canadians are wondering whether a recession is in fact in the making. Now some hard statistics give weight to a bad-news scenario.

Statistics Canada released its numbers last week for the country’s August gross domestic product levels, which showed a flat economy with no growth, missing analyst estimates for a tiny increase of 0.1 percent. The agency also released its preliminary forecast for September and the third quarter, which points to continued flat growth.

That, technically, would put Canada’s economy into a recession, defined as two quarters of economic contraction. The GDP in the second quarter contracted 0.2 percent. Some economists says that the latest GDP numbers should put an end to interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada.

Meanwhile, a new study from TD Bank, “Canadian Housing: Navigating Challenges,” offers TD’s analysis of the Canadian housing market. Unsurprisingly, it says that multiple interest rate increases from the Bank of Canada have depressed housing prices and, consequently, listings. However, there was good news in terms of the degree of housing starts currently occurring.

“Even with multi-year highs in borrowing costs and persistent labour shortages, builders have been able to sustain a pace of housing starts that is roughly 20 percent above pre-pandemic levels and near multi-decade highs,” the report says. However, the report gives national numbers, while observing that Quebec housing starts, in particular, are “retrenching.”

Attacks on retailers are getting increasingly more aggressive, and in one case, more outrageous.

Grand Valley Home Hardware, in the township of East Garafaxa, 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto, was broken into twice in the early morning hours of Oct. 22. Security footage from the second break-and-enter incident shows the perpetrators stealing the store’s safe which was on the second floor (see photo, courtesy of Ontario Provincial Police).

The two suspects first arrived at 2:10 a.m. in a dark-coloured SUV and one of the suspects gained access to the building by removing a window in the side door. The suspect who removed the window was captured on a security camera wearing a dark-coloured pullover with hood, a facial covering, and gloves (see above photo at right). Both individuals spent 35 minutes at the store, but it is unknown whether they stole anything on that first visit.

At about 4:10 a.m., the suspects returned to the store in the same vehicle. This time, the second suspect was captured on video. He was wearing a dark jacket with a hood, a surgical mask, orange gloves, blue jeans, and blue running shoes. His partner in crime re-entered the building and dropped the safe from a second-storey window, where the second suspect placed it on a dolly.

Both suspects moved the safe to the vehicle, placed it inside, and then drove off. They had spent a total of just 20 minutes at the store stealing the safe, security videos indicate. Ontario Provincial Police are investigating but had made no arrests by the time of publication.

The Arthurs family has owned Grand Valley Home Hardware since 2016.

The Home Depot has named Ann-Marie Campbell as senior EVP. She will assume responsibility for outside pro sales efforts and installation services, while continuing to oversee U.S. stores and operations—and the Canadian and Mexican business units. A 38-year veteran of the company, Campbell has served as EVP of U.S. stores and international operations since 2020. Hector Padilla has been named EVP of U.S. stores and operations, where he will lead the company’s three U.S. operating divisions, reporting to Campbell. He has been with The Home Depot for some 30 years, most recently as EVP, outside sales and service.

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RETAILER NEWS

Carleton Co-operative in Florenceville-Bristol, N.B, will convert its country store to the Ace Country & Garden banner. Founded in 1946, Carleton Co-op consists of some 3,000 square feet and is served by a staff of about 10. Jim Kennedy is general manager and John Nigro is retail manager. In addition to the country store, the site includes a Foodland grocery store, gas bar, NB Liquor agency, and propane fill station.

Canadian Tire Corp. has repurchased Scotiabank’s 20 percent stake in Canadian Tire Financial Services (CTFS). With the $895 million all-cash transaction, CTC is once again full owner of its financial services arm. CTFS is key to the company’s Triangle Rewards program, accounting for some 75 percent of all Canadian Tire money issued each year.

Amazon, the world’s largest e-retailer, enjoyed profits that more than tripled in the third quarter ending Sept. 30. In spite of rising interest rates, and falling disposable income, consumers continued to spend heavily on online purchases. Revenue in the third quarter was $143.1 billion. Profit in the quarter was $9.9 billion compared to $2.9 billion in the same quarter of 2022. Amazon’s workforce, which reached a record 1.62 million workers worldwide at the beginning of 2022 during the Covid boom, has since been cut significantly and now stands at 1.5 million workers.

W.W. Grainger has reported Q3 earnings of $476 million, with profits reaching $9.43 on a per-share basis. Revenues for the quarter came to $4.21 billion.

U.S. farm and ranch retailer Tractor Supply Co. released its third-quarter results that included a 4.3 percent year-over-year increase in sales to $3.41 billion. It also experienced a 0.4 percent dip in comparable store sales. Core year-round merchandise, including consumable, usable, and edible products “significantly outpaced the chain average.” The company noted lesser demand for seasonal goods and big-ticket items.

Ace Hardware has relocated its corporate headquarters to the former McDonald’s corporate campus in Oak Brook, Ill. The new location houses over 1,100 staff and features open workstations, 150 conference rooms, 12 cafes and pantries, a fitness centre, conference centre, multipurpose room, large cafeteria, dining centre, and a variety of collaboration spaces.

PPG posted record third-quarter net sales of $4.6 billion, up four percent over the same period a year earlier. Net income in the quarter reached $426 million, up 29 percent from Q3 2022, when net income was $329 million.

Investment in U.S. construction was up 0.4 percent in December. Investment in residential construction rose by 0.6 percent, with spending on single-family projects up 1.3 percent. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)