Rona may be a big-box home reno retailer, but it’s downsizing with its latest venture – Studio by Rona. Launched with three stores in Quebec last fall, and with plans to expand into other parts of Canada in the near future, these smaller shops (10,000 sq. ft. maximum) focus on home décor specifically by pairing paint colours with items like wallpaper, ceramic tiles, flooring and window treatments.

Claude Bernier, EVP marketing and customer innovation at Rona, notes that the new shops are targeting three types of customers: professional painters, interior designers and consumers who want a unique offering that may include custom orders. ‘When you go in the box store you’re taking what’s on the shelf,’ he says. ‘So the Studio concept has been developed for a niche market, targeting more women.’

Instead of being organized by brands like most paint stores, Studio is separated by colour. The store employs designers to help customers put together their ideal décor look, which can also be achieved using unique-to-Rona software that can take an item, such as a painting, and determine primary and secondary paint colours based on it. And instead of those small paint colour samples, Studio gives out a full sheet of paper with a customer’s selected colour.

A campaign prior to the launch, created by Bos and planned by Carat, included billboards, radio, newspaper and direct mail sent to their target consumers, and featured the tagline ‘Vos couleurs sur demande‘ or ‘Your colours on demand.’