12
APRIL 2015
RONA IN PENTICTON CELEBRATES A GREAT DECADE SPOTLIGHT
Local store consistently growing its contractor base
P
ENTICTON - Looking back on 10 years in business, Chad Mielke, store manager of Rona in Penticton, said it has been a remarkable decade. Accolades for the store began coming in only four years after it opened when it was named Canada’s Outstanding Retailer of the Year in the category Best Building Supplier/Home Centre over 25,000 square feet by Hardware Merchandising Magazine, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. Praise continued almost daily from Rona’s customers and last fall, in a new Rona program, the store won Fourth Quarter of the Year and took second place in Store of the Year for Western Canada. It was also recently nominated for Business of the Year by the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce. Mielke, who opened the store with his father, Rick Mielke, said that the store has thrived through good times and bad. “We opened during the boom. We went through the recession – and now we’re back into the boom. It feels like we’ve come full circle.” How did the store survive during the tough times?
“We tell our staff over and over again that we need to be quick and efficient with the contractors. It’s their business and the fastest we can make things happen is the ideal.” CHAD MIELKE STORE MANAGER, RONA PENTICTON
“We were blessed to have a very good staff,” Mielke said. “We tightened up and our core group became even stronger.” He added that the store was lucky that it kept most of its people and that it weathered the storm. Today the store is reaping the benefits. A lot of new building is taking place in the south Okanagan and the renovation market is also beginning to pick up again. For many people who are building a new home or re-doing an old one, Rona is the first choice. “We tell our staff that every person who walks through our door has chosen us,” Mielke said. “In doing that they’re paying for our mortgages, our rent, our groceries and our lifestyle in the Okanagan. We are truly grateful that they have
Rona Penticton celebrates 10 years in business chosen to enter our store. And why do they do it? I’d like to think it’s because we have really good staff. We have staff who have been here for a long time.” In fact, this is not just the 10th anniversary for the store, it is also the 10th anniversary for 23 staff – people who have been
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with Rona Penticton since the day it opened. In addition, nine staff will be celebrating 10 years in 2016 and eight more in 2017. “That’s unheard-of in retail,” Mielke said. Six years ago, when he received the award for Outstanding Retailer of the Year, he explained his success by saying, “I don’t think it’s prices; I don’t think it’s location; I don’t think it’s the look of our stores; I don’t even think it’s the banner we fly. Why we’re successful is 100 per cent due to our staff – they are why we are as strong as we are in Penticton.” There is, however, another reason people shop at Rona. Mielke noted that the company is a front-runner when it comes to innovation. “It seems our store changes on a weekly basis. New product rolls in. We offer choice and selection. I have over 100 different faucets. You can’t walk into any other store in Penticton and choose from the selection we carry.” Rona caters to both the public and to contractors. Today, Mielke estimates that 50 percent of the
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business is with contractors, a demographic that has been growing steadily. Both areas have grown but the contractor side, remarkably so over the last two years. Indeed, the last three years have seen double digit growth for the store overall. Great products and exceptional service is bringing contractors to Rona, Mielke said. “We have a very good core group of contract sale people and they are getting what the contractors need. On top of that, we have a first rate shipping department that makes sure the contractors get the product when they need it.” He said that the staff understand that for a contractor every minute of time is money. “We tell our staff over and over again that we need to be quick and efficient with the contractors. It’s their business and the fastest we can make things happen is the ideal.” The public also finds that Rona is the ideal place to shop for all their home needs, whether it’s new kitchen cabinets, a new shower stall
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