Lowe’s Celebrates Grand Opening
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Prince George, B.C. – It was all smiles this morning for Lowe’s grand opening at Pine Centre Mall.
The store features about 101,000 square feet of retail sales space with an adjacent garden centre and another 7,500 square feet of space.
The company notes it was built using sustainable development practices, including the re-use of existing building and site infrastructure and an automated building energy management system to automatically turn on and off building and heating cooling systems.
In total it represents an investment of $26 million and has created approximately 120-140 jobs and another 30 to 40 seasonal positions.
Several dignitaries were on hand today including Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall.
“We’re excited to have you here and I know you’re going to be a success in Prince George,” he told the crowd.
“You look at the entire area we trade with and it’s not just an opportunity for Prince George citizens but it’s without question an opportunity for people in our trading area: in Vanderhoof, in Quesnel, Fort St. James, Mackenzie. It’s important to all of us.”
Hall added the jobs will also provide a nice boost to the local economy.
“In a market like Prince George that’s a huge number of opportunities for people to gain employment here.”
During today’s opening Lowe’s also announced a $10,000 donation to the College of New Caledonia’s (CNC) trades program.
CNC president Henry Reiser said the school will use the funds to purchase a 16-foot trailer for their carpentry program.
“Lowe’s is not only contributing here in Prince George but they are adding other locations as well,” said Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond “It’s a great news story that Lowe’s has confidence in our province.”
Comments
RIP Rona. If the rumours are true Rona will be closing its doors soon.
I have no idea how Rona is still even open. Horrible shopping experiences, very small selection, lazy salespeople. I won’t be missing Rona one bit!
Heard on the CBC radio that Lowe’s had bought the RONA company.
Rona was bought by Lowes, or so the news said sometimeback
“Lowe’s is not only contributing here in Prince George but they are adding other locations as well,” said Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond “It’s a great news story that Lowe’s has confidence in our province.”
Anyone else getting that strange Deja Vu feeling?
.youtube.com/watch?v=2iL2FWueLYQ
Went there today looking for wireless motion senor alarms.
They don’t even have anything close to that.
Was in there today, a bit disappointed. Lumber and plywood seemed to be a little higher in price than Home Depot. Though they do carry a better selection of siding products. That is what I was looking for!
That particular space was originally one of the Anchor stores when the mall opened in 1974. Woolco. Then when they left we got Zellers in that space, then Target, and now Lowes.
So we probably have the same number of jobs to-day (more or less) than we had back in 1974. At least the jobs are consistant even if the stores are not.
I wonder if our MLAs will be rushing to have their picture taken in front of the next business that is closing down?
Lowe’s is okay, I went through the other day and had a peek see.
Can’t say as I saw anything that we didn’t already have with Home Depot, some prices lower some higher, most about the same as you can find in town in the sales flyers. Did we need it? Probably not.
They are American and I somehow can’t see us getting the same deals that are available across the border.
But hey, lets see what happens.
How did bond even slime herself into the picture..
You should go meet her. Real nice lady and lived here forever.
Yes she is! I’ve known Shirley for over thirty years. A very nice person! She works hard to represent our area and is a very competentleader.
The new Lowes may make it tough on small local outfits like Central Builders, Dollar Saver Lumber, Windsor Plywood.
On the other hand, the coming of Home Depot did not spell the end for those local companies, so hopefully the niche they have developed will continue to protect them from the big box American retailers.
metalman.
I respectfully disagree Metalman. Windsor is a premium store with a staff of skilled people that know what they are talking about. Central will continue to do the majority of their business with the local building companies that use them. Both of these stores haven’t exactly given up on the retail business but they have adapted to filling in with a niche strategy of focusing on something that Home Depot or Lowes will never be and that’s a provider of good service and experienced staff. Sorry for the long sentence.
I don’t live in PG, though where I do live there’s been a similar influx of “big box” stores in recent years. Lowes hasn’t arrived here yet, but I’m sure they will before too much longer. One thing I’ve noticed was that every time another big box chain store came in the prices of same products at ALL stores went up. Many here thought the opposite would happen, that increased competition would lead to lower prices overall. Seems it didn’t. Sure, there are the ‘loss leaders’ put on from time to time by various retailers to entice you in. But in general prices of same product items have risen, not fallen.
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