Almost five years after opening, the Rona store in Bayers Lake is closing its doors.
The Horseshoe Lake Drive location – the largest Rona store in HRM – will close to the public on April 29, according to an email from a spokesperson at the company headquarters in Boucherville, Que.
“Our intention was to have a new location ready to transfer our teams and customer [sic] to…We were unable to have a new secured location confirmed before the building was needed by the new owner,” wrote Michelle Laberge.
Laberge said negotiations are underway to secure a new location, but said it’s unlikely that new location would be ready for business by the time the current store closes at the end of April.
“Given the time needed for construction, it is unlikely,” she said. “We have been working on finding a new location to be able to transfer our employees to since last Spring. It has been more challenging than expected.”’
The Bayers Lake location opened in April 2008 and employed roughly 100 people, some of whom will be offered positions at other HRM stores.
Coun. Reg Rankin, whose district includes Bayers Lake, said he’s not surprised by the decision.
“In that area, you have Kent, Home Depot, they’re certainly going to remain,” he said. “So Rona was prepared to take a piece of that market and evidently it’s not working out.”
Rankin said the Rona closure is no reflection on the location.
“I think it’s not indicative of a decline in Bayers Lake in terms of dynamics, I think it remains a place to be,” he said. “So it’s certainly not discouraging to me as a destination area.”
Rona bought the five Pierceys locations in HRM in June 2010, hoping to increase its share of the building supplies market. — Metro Halifax
