Steve Payne
RONA/Lowe’s…Another Target story in the making?
Canadian ContractorExcept the Target takeover of Zellers and the Lowe's acquisition of RONA are completely different situations
Just over a year after Target Canada folded its tent in one of the most spectacular bankruptcies in Canadian retail history, now we have North Carolina-based Lowe’s making news (yesterday) with its agreement to buy RONA. Target had entered Canada, also, by acquisition – picking up some 180-plus former Zellers locations (owned by Hudson Bay Company). Reader Amere Peasant, in a post today, wonders if Lowe’s/RONA will become another Target Canada.
The big difference, of course, is that Lowe’s has been here for a long time already, RONA is a well-known Canadian home improvement brand with a history going back over 75 years, and the Canadian home improvement industry is generally healthy… Target was making a cold entry (despite its using Zellers’ existing locations) into a country that, generally, did not know the brand remotely as well as Americans do.
Here is Amere’s post…
“Oh great…. another Target story in the making. Hopefully the Rona employees do not end up losing their jobs and the customers who rely on the stores in smaller communities don’t get left hanging (poor Zellers). Welcome to Canada, the snot nose little cousin of the USA, where everything is for sale at $0.69 on the dollar. Sorry, sorry again, and just in case.. sorry, eh.
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I’ve noticed over the years that either store was always too quiet every time I visited, especially compared to HD. Nice move by Rona and good luck to Lowe’s.
Another Canadian company bought out by Americans. We should sell the whole country. All the great Canadian companies are mostly gone. No balls left for Canadian companies. Hope Canadian Tire does not revert to American Tire.