Lowe's Canada Celebrates Opening of Two New RONA Stores in Quebec

SAINT-FÉLIX-DE-VALOIS AND ROUYN-NORANDA

Boucherville (Québec), April 13, 2017 - Today, Lowe's Canada announced the official opening of two new RONA stores in Quebec: in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and Rouyn-Noranda. With the opening of these two stores, the banner is accelerating the growth of its network. This investment of more than $4 million will create 21 jobs in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and 30 jobs in Rouyn-Noranda.

"We are proud to continue the expansion of RONA, a banner that has clearly been identified as a strategic growth driver for Lowe's Canada," said Sylvain Prud'homme, President and CEO of Lowe's Canada. "We undertook to reposition the RONA banner with the goal of making it the number one banner in the proximity store market (small and medium size) in Quebec and Canada. This market represents about 56% of the home improvement market in Canada. The opening of the RONA stores in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and Rouyn-Noranda is part of this dynamic."

The two new RONA stores, strategically located in the heart of popular commercial areas, offer a shopping experience and a value proposition that make this banner so popular among consumers. The RONA store in Saint-Félix-de-Valois has an area of nearly 19,300 square feet, plus a 13,000 square-foot indoor lumber yard. For its part, the RONA in Rouyn-Noranda takes up 32,000 square feet of space, in addition to a lumber yard of more than 90,000 square feet.

Customers of these two new locations, which carry 12,000 to 20,000 products, will also have access to the full range of RONA products on rona.ca. Each store offers the following major product categories: paint, lighting, hardware, electricity, tools and seasonal products. They also have specialized departments for building materials, doors and windows, bathrooms and kitchens, plumbing and flooring. Services offered at these new RONA locations include installation, cutting, delivery, as well as sales to businesses and contractors. Customers will be also able to take advantage of the AIR MILES® rewards program and the very attractive RONAdvantages financing program.

"This year, RONA is implementing more growth projects in one year than it has over the past five years. With the opening of four new proximity stores, the major renovation of nine stores, the introduction of appliances, the extensive review of our product selection in several categories, and the development of an omni-channel strategy (web, mobile and store), our customers can make their choices when, where and how they want to," added Serge Éthier, executive vice-president, RONA Proximity. "The experienced RONA teams in Saint-Félix-de-Valois and Rouyn-Noranda will be able to guide and advise local consumers on their renovation and construction projects. In this regard, our stores will be indispensable in their respective markets."

To underscore its commitment to the local community, the RONA store in Saint-Félix-de-Valois made a financial contribution of $5,000 to the Club de Volleyball Drakkar at École secondaire de l'Érablière. This donation is intended to support this organization, which promotes sports in school while giving priority to the academic component and supporting all the athletes, who are a source of pride for the local community, distinguishing themselves on the provincial and national levels. For its part, the RONA store in Rouyn-Noranda presented a financial contribution of $5,000 to the Club optimiste Rouyn-Noranda. This donation will enable the organization to support the community's primary schools, along with young people, so that they can develop their full potential.

Note that on Saturday, April 15, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the RONA store in de Saint-Félix-de-Valois will receive a very special guest: NASCAR Pinty's Series racer Alex Tagliani, who is proudly sponsored by Lowe's Canada and all of its banners for the 2017 season. He will be available for a photo and autograph session with his No. 18 car from Tagliani Autosport.

To share this news on social media, please use #RONAOpenings and @RONAinc.

About Lowe's Canada

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving more than 17 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2015 sales of $59.1 billion, Lowe's and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,355 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 285,000 employees. Based in Boucherville, Quebec, Lowe's Canadian business, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, RONA, inc., operates over 535 corporate and independent affiliate dealer stores in a number of complementary formats under different banners. These include Lowe's, RONA, Réno-Dépôt, Marcil, Dick's Lumber and Ace. In Canada, the companies have more than 24,000 employees, as well as more than 5,000 employees in the stores of RONA's independent affiliate dealers.