It has taken Lowe’s, the US hardware and home goods chain, not quite three years to decide it really doesn’t want the Rona stores for which it paid twice the going stock value in early 2016. Lowe’s Companies announced Monday it will close 31 Canadian stores including the 27 mostly Rona locations. Nine are in Ontario, nine in Quebec, six in Newfoundland and Labrador, two in Alberta and one in British Columbia. Lowe’s says it expects to close the impacted stores by the end of the company’s 2018 financial year, Feb. 1, 2019. Lowes was a persistent suitor of Rona from 2012 up until the purchase made in February of 2016. Lowes pays double the stock price to buy Rona outright
