New Edmonton Gateway Lowe's store with enhanced customer offering opens today
Lowe’s Canada celebrates the opening of the second new model Lowe’s store in the greater Edmonton area
Boucherville, QC – October 4, 2018 – Lowe’s Canada opened today its second store in the greater Edmonton area featuring the new model of Lowe’s stores which offers an enhanced shopping experience. The store, located at 10450, 42nd Avenue in Edmonton, was converted from the former RONA Home and Garden. It was designed by taking the best of Lowe’s and RONA’s offerings to create the new model of Lowe’s stores.
“With the opening of this second new model Lowe’s store, we are pursuing the evolution of Lowe’s Big Box in Canada, making it easier for customers in the greater Edmonton area to take advantage of our enhanced shopping experience”, says Guy Beaumier, Executive Vice-President, Big Box for Lowe’s Canada. “By combining the best of the Lowe’s and RONA offerings, our new model Lowe’s provides a unique combination of products, services and financing options to meet the needs of retail consumers and contractors alike.”
The store underwent an extensive 16-week physical transformation from the former RONA which involved construction, departmental sequencing of new racking and re-merchandising, branding and IT conversion, as well as a significant investment in our people with exhaustive training focused on new product knowledge and customer service.
New Retail Experience
The new Edmonton Gateway Lowe’s offers an enhanced retail experience, including:
- A wider assortment of seasonal products such as Halloween decorations, items for the Holiday season and outdoor furniture including the latest fashion trends.
- A complete selection of appliances and the introduction of entirely new product categories including Lowe’s private labels, and top brands such as John Deere, Husqvarna, and Cub Cadet.
- A broader selection of fashion plumbing products such as tubs, showers, toilets, vanities, sinks and faucets with the introduction of high-profile brands such as Kohler and Grohe.
- Floor displays featuring the latest fashions in wood flooring and tiles with larger displays at eye level allowing customers to better visualize their projects and better experience the texture of flooring products.
- Access to more than 100,000 products on www.lowes.ca
Enhanced Contractor Experience
The new Edmonton Gateway location also offers an enhanced shopping experience for pros and commercial customers, including:
- The introduction of the Contractor Rewards Program (i.e. loyalty and pricing program).
- Access to a drive-through lumber yard where contractors can load their vehicles directly to save time, as well as have access to a broader lumber assortment.
- The Edmonton Gateway store is the second Lowe’s store in Edmonton to introduce charge accounts that allow commercial customers to shop at any RONA corporate store and new model Lowe’s store in Canada and receive a single monthly invoice.
- Introduction of corporately owned and operated delivery trucks to provide a more personalized level of service for deliveries to contractors.
- Enhanced assortment in key contractor categories including lumber, building materials, millwork, tools, hardware, etc.
The new Edmonton Gateway Lowe’s marks the company’s 67th store in Canada under the Lowe’s banner and sixth Lowe’s location in the greater Edmonton area. The store represents a local investment in excess of $5.4 million and created 30 new jobs – in total the store has 130 permanent positions and approximately 30 to 40 seasonal roles.
The store offers about 40,000 products in-stock to meet customers’ home improvement needs, and features retail offering space totaling more than 147,000 square feet, including 110,900 square feet of retail sales space, an adjacent garden centre of 13,200 square feet, a covered lumberyard of 6,700 square feet, and an additional outdoor drive-through lumberyard of 16,600 square feet.
Today, local dignitaries and Lowe’s executives joined employees from the store to celebrate the grand opening through an official board cutting ceremony and community grant presentation. Lowe’s donated $5,000 to the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation to help them provide the best health care services to over 224,000 children through the purchase of medical equipment and the funding of research and training programs.
Grand Opening Events
Grand opening activities for the new store, where customers can enjoy free sessions, giveaways and contests, will continue until Monday. These include:
- Children’s Workshop for families on Saturday, October 6 at 10 a.m.
- Live in-store radio remote with Sonic 102.9 on Saturday, October 6, with a draw for a $250 Lowe’s gift card and a small appliance.
- Giveaways including: 5 L Pro-Mix potting soil (first 100 customers, Thursday only); Bosch 32-piece screwdriver bit set (first 200 customers, Friday only); $25 Lowe’s gift card (first 150 customers, Saturday only) and Lowe’s white water bottle (first 100 customers, Sunday only).
- Customers can also enter to win 1 of 5 grand prizes.
- Contractor exclusive VIP event on Monday, October 15 from 12 to 2 p.m. There will be a draw to win 1 of 3 $250 Lowe’s gift cards and contractors can fill out a ballot to win 1 of 4 tool prizes. To register, contractors can call the store at 780.437.8080 and ask to speak with the Contractor Specialist to request an invite.
About Lowe’s Canada
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving more than 18 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2017 sales of $68.6 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,390 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 310,000 people. Based in Boucherville, Quebec, Lowe’s Canadian business, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, RONA inc., operates or services more than 630 corporate and independent affiliate dealer stores in a number of complementary formats under different banners. These include Lowe’s, RONA, Réno-Dépôt, Dick’s Lumber and Ace. In Canada, the companies have more than 28,000 employees, in addition to nearly 5,000 employees in the stores of RONA’s independent affiliate dealers. For more information, visit Lowes.ca.
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For more information or to confirm attendance, please contact:
Valérie Gonzalo
Media Relations
Lowe’s Canada
Tel. 514.626.6976
[email protected]