Rona

Rona is a hardware store that operates in Canada and the French territory of St Pierre and Miquelon. They operate over 470 Rona locations across various labels in all 10 Provinces. 
== History ==
In 1939, the first Rona location opened in Montréal, QC. It was named "Les Marchands en Quincaillerie. (The Merchants of Hardware.)" To offer lower prices at their stores, Rona would get their products directly from manufactures instead of going through wholesalers first. 
They became successful and started opening more stores throughout Québec. In 1960, they adopted the name "Ro-Na" and re-branded their stores as such. 
In 1982, Rona bought out the Bonanix company, who sell various garden products. This meant they started selling Bonanix products at Rona stores.
In 1988, Rona merged with Dismat, which was a similar store to Rona. 
A decade later, Rona discontinued the Dismat name and replaced it with Rona L'express (Rona Express) Which is a smaller concept Rona store
In the 1990s, due to competition from stores like The Home Depot and Canadian Tire, Rona started opening larger big-box format stores.
In 2000, Rona bought Cashway Building Centres which expanded their Ontario presence. 
The next year, Rona bought several Western and Central Canadian retailers to expanded throughout Canada. 
In 2003, Rona acquired Réno-Dépôt, which is a store similar in format to The Home Depot. Rona continues to operate stores under the Réno-Dépôt name. 
Throughout the 2000s. Rona acquired many different retailers in all parts of Canada, which led them to expand into the Atlantic Canadian market for the first time. 
=== Post Lowe's Buyout ===
In 2012, Lowe's attempted to acquire Rona, but this was meant with negative feedback from various Rona shareholders. In 2016, the deal finally went through and Lowe's now owned Rona.
In 2017, some Rona locations were re-branded to Lowe's. 
In 2019, a dispute occurred with Advertising Standards Canada. This was becuase many Rona stores displayed "Truly Canadian" on their storefronts. This was no longer true since Lowe's had bought the company a few years earlier. Because of this, all "Truly Canadian" signs had to be taken off Rona stores. 
=== The End of Lowe's Canadian Operations and Rona+ ===
In 2022, Lowe's sold its Canadian division to Sycamore Partners. Because of this, in 2023, all Canadian Lowe's stores were re-branded to Rona+, which is a new larger format Rona store. 
Today, Rona continues to be one of the nations most popular hardware stores.
Category:North America
Category:Hardware Stores
Category:Canada
Category:Retailers
Category:North America
Category:Companies
Category:Franchises
Category:Brands
Category:Companies founded in Canada