A MAJOR homeware retailer has rescued three more Homebase stores after falling into administration.
The DIY store fell into administration in November but was partially rescued by CDS Superstores, the parent company of The Range and Wilko.
It has been confirmed three more locations have been rescued from closure and are set to reopen next month.[/caption]
Its plan was to preserve up to 70 stores and 1600 jobs and also keep the Homebase brand alive.
That left around 74 homebase facing uncertainty, but the stores administrators put the sites up for sale a week later.
Analysis by The Sun at the time revealed that just 57 stores were excluded from the sale listing, suggesting they could have been part of CDS’s rescue plan.
To date, however, CDS has only confirmed the rescue of 26 stores, leaving the exact number of saved locations unclear.
But now it has been confirmed three more locations have been rescued from closure and are set to reopen next month.
Former Homebase sites in Sheffield, Haverfordwest and Rayleigh Weir will be transformed into The Range stores come April.
The sites will also feature “Garden Centres by Homebase,” a new concept which will help preserve the brand.
Earlier this month, stores in Ruislip, Maidenhead, Harrogate, Dublin, Nutgrove and Dublin Santry, were also marked for reopening.
An additional three locations – in Bangor, Godalming, and Winchester – will welcome shoppers from April onwards.
The full list of Homebase stores rescued by The Range include:
- Ashbourne, Waterside Business Park – opened February 14
- Bicester – opened February 21
- Birmingham, Kings Heath – opened January 17
- Blandford Forum, Dorset – opened January 31
- Blyth – opened January 24
- Bodmin – opens March 7
- Christchurch – opened January 17
- East Dereham, Norfolk – opened February 14
- Eastbourne, Admiral Park – opened February 28
- Edinburgh, Craigleith – opens March 21
- Felixstowe – opened January 24
- Glasgow, Pollokshaws – opened January 17
- Horsham – opens March 21
- Huntingdon – opened February 21
- Leicester, Putney Road – opened January 31
- Leighton Buzzard – opened February 7
- Loudwater, High Wycombe – opens March 7
- Morecambe, Lancashire – opened February 28
- Newton Abbot – opened January 24
- Oxford, Horspath Driftway – opened February 28
- Penge, London – opened February 7
- Reigate, Surrey – opened February 21
- Selby – opens March 7
- Staines – opened February 14
- Stroud – opened January 31
- Woking – opened February (date incomplete)
- Ruislip – opens later this month
- Maidenhead – opens later this month
- Harrogate – opens later this month
- Dublin, Nutgrove – opens later this month
- Dublin, Santry – opens later this month
- Bangor – opens April
- Godalming – opens April
- Winchester – opens April
- Sheffield – reopens in April
- Haverfordwest – reopens in April
- Rayleigh Weir – opens in April
The firm previously said it has a goal to transform 70 Homebase locations into this new format throughout 2025, securing up to 1,600 jobs.
Alex Simpkin, group chief executive at CDS, said late last year he was “committed to retaining the best of Homebase’s heritage” while also introducing the “broader product range” that customers expect The Range.
He added: “While those Homebase stores acquired by CDS will continue to trade as they are during the transition period, we’re focused on ensuring a seamless transfer of these locations into our new store format.”
The firm is also investing in the Homebase brand with the relaunch of www.homebase.co.uk .
CDS already confirmed that the Homebase brand will continue to trade online.
TROUBLE FOR DIY AND GARDEN STORES
High inflation coupled with a squeeze on consumers’ finances has meant people have less money to spend in the shops.
Garden centres and home improvement businesses also boomed during the pandemic when customers were stuck at home.
But customers have been forced to cut back on spending since then due to high inflation and a national cash crunch.
This has led to prominent chains going bust or launching restructuring plans.
That includes Dobbies which shut 16 stores as part of a restructuring plan.
The company also said eight branches would close this year, including in Rugby, Stapleton and Leicester, as well as Morpeth, Havant and Aylesbury.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
