UPDATE 2-Canadian Tire, Rona map out different growth plans

* Rona sees growth by acquisition

* Canadian Tire to focus on "smart store" format (Adds comments from companies, details)

By Scott Anderson

TORONTO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Two of Canada's top retailers have big plans for expansion over the next few years but have different strategies for achieving that growth, the companies said at a retail conference on Tuesday.

While Rona Inc (RON.TO), Canada's biggest home-improvement chain, wants to expand its store base through acquisitions, giant household goods retailer Canadian Tire Corp (CTC.TO) plans to expand its presence by opening more of its smaller, more efficient "smart store" format.

Boucherville, Quebec-based Rona, which has steadily built its network of about 700 stores through a strategy of aggressively swallowing smaller chains, said it would aim to be more selective in striking deals in the years ahead.

Claude Guevin, Rona's chief financial officer, said the company would only consider acquisitions that would be profitable, while relatively easy to merge into the company's existing network of stores.

"Like we have in the past, we intend to expand our network through acquisition," Guevin said during Scotia Capital's retail conference in Toronto.

"It's very easy to acquire companies, but it is much more difficult to generate synergies, integrate the company and more difficult to grow business."

Meanwhile, Canadian Tire plans to expand via its "smart stores", which feature wider aisles, more signage and a focus on lifestyle products such as sporting goods and recreation, as well as hardware, automotive products and food items.

The company has opened nine of these stores so far, with plans to retrofit 25 existing outlets later this year.

Five of the nine stores also feature a small selection of groceries, occupying about 2 percent of the total floor space, but this could grow in the coming years, said Canadian Tire President Mike Arnett.

"We're testing food in these stores, not to see how much food we can sell at lower margins than our average general merchandise, but to see what that does in terms of changing traffic patterns to the store," he said.

"What I would say about food is I like what we have seen in the first five stores."

Arnett said the Toronto-based company would make a decision in 2010 on its food strategy.

($1=$1.07 Canadian) (Reporting by Scott Anderson; editing by Rob Wilson)