Do-it-yourselfers rejoice: Rona set to open big-box store in Pierrefonds

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

A new 80,000-square-foot Rona big-box store is set to open this summer in Pierrefonds, creating some 150 jobs.

Work on the $15-million project is well underway and the St. Charles Boulevard store is expected to open this summer, company officials said.

The store is to carry 40,000 different products within three zones: seasonal and gardening, renovation and interior decoration, and construction and basic supplies.

The Rona store will add to the big-box home-renovation landscape of the West Island, which includes the established Réno-Dépôt store in Pointe Claire (owned by Rona since 2003). Meanwhile, a Home Depot store is currently under constructing at the Terrarium mall on Hymus Boulevard in Pointe Claire. The new 115,000-square-foot Home Depot, slated to open in late 2007, will also be home to an 18,000-square-foot garden centre, company officials said.

Rona operates a chain of 662 corporate, franchise and affiliate stores of various sizes across the country, with some 26,000 employees.

The network of stores generates close to $6 billion in sales annually, company officials stated.