History
1939 - Rona is founded in September as "Les Marchands en Quincaillerie" (The Merchants of Hardware), an alliance of independent Montreal-area hardware retailers who sought the buying power to bypass wholesalers and deal directly with manufacturers.
1960 - July 20, 1960 Ro-Na name adopted, after ROlland Dansereau and NApoleon Piotte, two of the founders of Les Marchands en Quincaillerie. Ro-Na member stores begin adding the Ro-Na logo to identify themselves as members of the buying co-operative.
1982 - Rona purchased the assets of Botanix.
1984 - Rona created a purchasing alliance with Ontario-based Home Hardware Stores Ltd. through Alliance Rona Home Inc.
1988 - Rona merged with Dismat, another building materials company, to create Rona Dismat Group Inc.
1990 - Rona formed an alliance with Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1997 - ITM Entreprises S.A., a France-based group, invests $30 million in the Rona Dismat Group Inc. ITM becomes a shareholder and forms a purchasing alliance with Rona.
1998 - Rona eliminates the Le Quincailleur and Dismat names and introduces Rona L'express, Rona L'express Matériaux and Rona Le Rénovateur Régional. It also changes its name from Rona Dismat Group Inc. to Rona Inc.
1999 - Rona opens a new warehouse adjacent to its headquarters, measuring 654,000 square feet (61,000 m²), doubling its warehousing capacity and achieving considerable cost savings.
2000 - Rona acquires Ontario-based Cashway Building Centres, with 66 stores. It permanently opens its online store on the rona.ca website.
2001 - Rona acquires 51 Revy Home and Garden, Revelstoke Home Centres (located in Western Canada) and Lansing (Ontario) stores, thus owning many more stores in the Greater Toronto Area. Revy was a BC-based company.
2002 - Rona closes a public offering consisting of a total offering of $150.1 million of Common Shares. Rona's Common Shares are then traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "RON".
2003 - Rona acquires Réno-Dépôt Inc. from British Kingfisher plc, including The Building Box stores. Rona also opens its third large distribution centre in Calgary, Alberta.
2004 - Rona acquires Totem Building Supplies Limited, an Alberta company. Rona Dream Home airs on Global. Rona also joins the AIR MILES Reward Program.
2005 - Rona Dream Home 2 airs on Global.
2006 - Rona acquires Stephens Home Centre/ Castle Inc., Sydney N.S
2006 - Rona acquires a majority (51%) stake in Matériaux Coupal Inc.
2006 - Rona acquires Curtis Lumber Building Supplies
2006 - Rona acquires St. John's, NL based Chester Dawe Limited
2007 - Rona acquires Burnaby, BC based Dick's Lumber
2007 - Rona acquires Concord, ON based Noble Trade
2010 - Rona acquires Pierceys, based in Nova Scotia and, through Noble Trade, Plomberie Payette & Perreault based at Boucherville, QC as well as Don Park Canada and TruServ
2011 - Rona announces major partnership with Canucks Sports & Entertainment
April 2012 - Rona announces they are closing 10 box stores, and replacing them with smaller specialty stores at new locations.
July 26, 2012 - Rona rejects an unsolicited takeover by American Lowe's. Many groups including the government itself, emerged to opposed against such a transaction to occur.
September 2012 - Lowe's drops buyout plan.
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