Winnipeg Lowe’s untouched as company shuts stores

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This article was published 06/11/2018 (2557 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lowe’s Canada is closing 27 of its home improvement stores in Canada, mostly outlets obtained in its purchase of Rona in 2016, but Winnipeg will be left unscathed.

The home improvement chain said it was closing underperforming outlets.

Nine of the stores are in each of Ontario and Quebec, six in Newfoundland, two in Alberta and one in British Columbia.

The closures represent three per cent of its square footage.

It is also consolidating regional offices in Mississauga, Ont., and St. John’s, N.L., at its head office in Boucherville, Que. A truss plant in St. John’s, and a block plant in Kamloops, B.C., will also be closed.

Lowe’s promised to transfer eligible employees to other locations when possible.

The closures will take place before Feb. 1, 2019. Lowe’s is also shutting 20 stores in the United States.

Lowe’s just opened its first home improvement store in Winnipeg in February in the Linden Ridge Shopping Centre on Kenaston Boulevard.

A Rona store operates within a few blocks of the new Lowe’s. The company is also in the process of converting a Rona store on Lagimodiere Boulevard into a Lowe’s.

“Having our operations under one roof will allow us to improve collaboration between our banners to better serve our customers,” Lowe’s Canada president and chief executive officer Sylvain Prud’homme said in a statement.

The North Carolina-based company’s first Lowe’s in Winnipeg cost $34 million for a 95,000-square-foot retail space, plus a 20,000-square-foot garden centre.

The store employs 130 people full time and 35 to 40 seasonal workers.