In September 1939, Rona was founded 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 to get around a monopoly that threatened their ability to access supplies. Within two years they opened their first warehouse, and in 1946 held their first dealer show. M. Dansereau held controlling interest in the company until 1962, when M. Piotte and ten other dealers bought his shares and formed a true dealer co-operative, which they renamed Le Groupe RONA Inc. In 1982, Rona purchased the assets of Botanix. In 1984, Rona created a purchasing alliance with Ontario-based
Home Hardware Stores Ltd. through Alliance Rona Home Inc. In 1988, Rona merged with Dismat, another building materials company, to create Rona Dismat Group Inc. In 1990, Rona formed an alliance with
Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. of
Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1992, Robert Dutton was appointed as President and CEO of RONA. In 1997, ITM Entreprises S.A., a France-based group, invested $30 million in the Rona Dismat Group Inc. ITM became a shareholder and created a purchasing alliance with Rona. In 1998, Rona stopped using the Le Quincailleur and Dismat names and introduced Rona L'express, Rona L'express Matériaux and Rona Le Rénovateur Régional. Rona also changed its name from Rona Dismat Group Inc. to Rona Inc. In 1999, Rona opened a new warehouse adjacent to its headquarters, measuring 654,000 square feet (ca. 6 ha), doubling its warehousing capacity. In the year 2000, Rona acquired Ontario-based Cashway Building Centres, with 66 stores. In the same year, Rona opened its online store on the rona.ca website. In 2001, Rona acquired 51 Revy Home and Garden (based in British Columbia), Revelstoke Home Centres (located in Western Canada) and Lansing Building Supply (based in North York, Ontario since 1951 and merged with Revelstoke in 1998) stores, thus owning many more stores in the Greater Toronto Area. In 2002, Rona closed a public offering consisting of a total offering of $150.1 million in common shares. Rona's common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "RON". In 2003, Rona acquired
Réno-Dépôt Inc. from British
Kingfisher plc, including The Building Box stores. Rona also opened its third large distribution centre in
Calgary,
Alberta. In 2004, Rona acquired Totem Building Supplies Limited, an Alberta company. Rona also joined the
Air Miles Award Program the same year, allowing customers to gain Air Miles points while shopping at the store. Two TV shows sponsored by RONA,
Rona Dream Home and
Ma Maison Rona, were released in 2004. In 2006, Rona acquired Stephens Home Centre/Castle Inc, a company based in
Sydney, Nova Scotia. Rona also acquired a majority (51%) stake in Matériaux Coupal Inc. as well as Curtis Lumber Building Supplies and Chester Dawe Limited, a company based in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2007, Rona acquired Dick's Lumber, a company based in
Burnaby,
British Columbia. In 2007, Rona acquired Noble Trade, a company based in
Concord, Ontario. In 2009,
My Rona Home first aired. In 2010, Rona acquired Pierceys, a company based in
Nova Scotia, Plomberie Payette & Perreault, a company based in
Boucherville, Quebec, Moffatt & Powell, a company based in
London, Ontario, Don Park Canada, and TruServ. In 2012, the U.S. hardware store chain
Lowe's attempted to buy Rona; however, the deal was met with objections from Rona shareholders (particularly the
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) and franchisees, and was eventually called off. On February 3, 2016, Rona announced that it had accepted an offer to be acquired by Lowe's for
CDN$3.2 billion, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. Post-merger, Lowe's plans to maintain Rona's retail banners, and "continue to employ the vast majority of its current employees and maintain key executives from Rona's strong leadership team". Lowe's Canada will be operated from Rona's headquarters in Boucherville, but remain under the leadership of its current CEO Sylvain Prud'homme. The purchase was closed in May 2016. In December 2016, Lowe's announced that it planned to convert selected Rona-branded stores to the Lowe's brand. In 2019, acting upon a public complaint,
Advertising Standards Canada ruled that Rona's continued display of signage such as "Truly Canadian" and "Proudly Canadian" on storefronts following the sale to the American-based Lowe's was misleading. Rona subsequently removed the signage. In November 2022, Lowe's agreed to sell its Canadian operations (including the Lowe's-branded stores) to the American private equity firm
Sycamore Partners, which also operates, among other properties,
Staples Canada. Following the sale, Rona planned to convert the Lowe's-branded stores to the Rona brand. The sale was completed on February 3, 2023. Rona announced in May 2024 that it would also convert Réno-Dépôt locations to the Rona+ banner. ==Retail operations==