Retail giant Homebase has gone into administration leaving 2,000 jobs at risk and 49 stores at risk of closure.
The owner of Homebase, Hilco, has been looking to sell the retailer after a challenging few years for the brand.
This follows Sainsbury’s buying 11 of Homebase’s stores back in August with the plan of converting them into big supermarkets.
Since its creation by Sainsbury’s in 1979, Homebase’s goal was to be a supermarket-style layout of DIY products. And at Ideal Home, we’ve been consistently impressed by its garden furniture deals and designer dupes.
Yesterday it was announced that the owner of The Range, CDS Superstores, would purchase up to 70 stores as well as the Homebase brand and intellectual property. This move has saved 1,600 jobs, however, 49 stores are still at risk of closure.
The shops purchased by The Range will operate as The Range Store while Homebase still continues to trade online.
In the meantime, Homebase will continue to trade as normal and there will be no immediate redundancies while Homebase’s appointed administrator Teneo searches for a buyer.
Hilco purchased Homebase back in 2018 for just £1 from Australian firm Wesfarmers after the company lost around $1bn since acquiring Homebase in 2016.
However, the past few years have been challenging for Homebase. The pandemic and cost of living crisis saw shoppers cut back on their spending resulting in a reported £84.2m loss last year.
There had been a: ‘decline in consumer confidence and spending following the pandemic,’ said Homebase’s chief executive, Damian McGloughlin in a comment to the BBC, as well as ‘persistent high inflation, global supply chain issues and unseasonable weather.’
This follows a troubling year for gardening and DIY stores as Dobbies announced the closure of 17 of its stores, including all its Little Dobbies stores.
The future remains uncertain for the remaining stores. When approached, Homebase was unable to comment at this time.
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