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RONA Black Diamond wins national award

Robbie McKay had a vision to compete with the Big Box stores of the Big City. He had established a very reputable hardware / lumber business on the Cowboy Trail on the edge of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, catering to the farm and ranch community of Black Diamond - Turner Valley. He recognized that his customer profile was changing, as people were moving beyond suburbia to totally escape the city so that they could live in one of the most picturesque, friendly settings in Alberta. Black Diamond and Turner Valley were growing with new residential development. He decided to become a RONA Building Centre franchisee and grow his store. After 6 months of operation in 2007, he was voted the 2nd best new RONA in Canada, Best Store Under 2000 m2, and has been nominated for best new Canadian retailer for Canada. Acrylicon Alberta recommended and installed the Acrylicon Lacquer System floor for Robbie\'s store. Acrylicon was integral with the image that he wanted his store to portray. Women love the RONA Acrylicon floor. Acrylicon Alberta is glad to be part of the RONA Black Diamond success formula.

On a site visit in December 2007 and with the store in operation for 6 months, Robbie asked me \"Do you see any dust on the floor, Walt? The women love the store because it is clean. This floor is clean.\" Those were the same points Walt Curilla made to Robbie during construction in February 2007 when he was looking at his recently poured concrete floor that had a less than stellar result. Robbie needed to make a decision on repairing the floor vs replacing the floor, and secondly how would that final floor be finished / sealed. If he went with the Acrylicon Lacquer system, the carrot was that RONA Black Diamond would be a cleaner store at opening and even 2 or 3 years later.

During construction in February, 2007, the concrete supplier called Acrylicon Alberta to help out with a major quality problem involving one of their concrete place and finish companies on the RONA Black Diamond project. The 1500 m2 floor looked like a rained-out slab due to extra water being used on top of the slab in a failed attempt to minimize power trowel damage on a floor that had started to set prior to finishing. There were now 6+ mm grooves on about 20% of the floor. The floor was also very soft and needed to be hardened. Should it be replaced or repaired was the first decision. Robbie decided to repair the floor based on Acrylicon Alberta recommendations.

After about 4 weeks, the floor was repaired as well as could be expected. Now Robbie had to make the final decision: how would the floor be covered after being repaired? Robbie first wanted to see our history regarding Acrylicon. Robbie saw several Acrylicon Alberta implementations. Acrylicon Alberta educated Robbie on the disadvantages of epoxies, polyurethanes and even look-a-like MMA competitors to Acrylicon. Although there are other MMA\'s, none have that longevity and history that Acrylicon has. Ultimately, the decision became a honed - densified concrete or Acrylicon Lacquer. Robbie chose the Acrylicon Lacquer System.

In February, 2007, the major selling point was going to be \"easy to clean, making the store more attractive for the female population\". Walt recounted to Robbie that a large hardware chain was modernizing stores in the NE USA so as to specifically attract women to the store, and away from traditional non-hardware home centres. Research has shown in more than one study that women have significantly more than 50% of the buying power of families. If you can make for an attractive store in a traditionally male-shopped environment, than you can attract the more powerful female consumer demographic group to your store.

However, the Acrylicon Lacquer system was difficult to picture in a cold, dark building in the middle of a snowy, cold February. He needed to confirm his decision. Walt did a 20\' by 20\' test sample for Robbie to see what the floor would look like. The test was a success. Robbie visited other Acrylicon Alberta locations of lacquer systems to see what he liked. He chose a clear, untinted lacquer to show the natural color of cut aggregate. Robbie entrusted Acrylicon Alberta to now coat the floor.

During floor fixturing, there was significant gouging of the floor. In 8 hours, the floor was re-coated, and looked like new. Staff were moving boxes and pallets onto the newly coated floor only 45 minutes after coating. No epoxy or polyurethane could allow for this return-for-service cycle time.

Almost a year later, Robbie\'s decision to open a new store in Black Diamond was a good one. Acrylicon flooring helped contribute to that success in a very significant way. And, women love his store and his floor!

So do RONA Corporate head office managers and executives!