Homebase is to live on as a brand online and within up to 70 former stores reopened next year as branches of the Range, its new owner has announced.
CDS said it would open the first three converted outlets from the collapsed DIY retailer in January under the Range Superstores name, and then 10 a month from February.
The group, which is based in Plymouth, said each would have a Homebase-branded garden centre section, and some would also have kitchen departments badged with the DIY brand.
The privately owned business founded by the former market trader Chris Dawson in 1989, which operates about 220 stores in the UK and Ireland under the Range and Wilko banners, snapped up 70 of Homebase’s outlets and the rights to the brand after the DIY chain fell into administration last month.
The Homebase website is currently trading under administrators from Teneo but will be handed over to CDS in early 2025. Administrators are also seeking buyers for 49 Homebase stores not taken on by CDS, and they will trade under the DIY brand for the short-term until they find new owners.
CDS said it was investing in a new website that would be relaunched nationwide early next year. The first three Range Superstores will open on 17 January in Pollokshaws, Glasgow; Christchurch, Bournemouth; and Kings Heath, Birmingham.
Alex Simpkin, the chief executive of CDS, said: “We’re fully committed to retaining the best of Homebase’s heritage while introducing the broader product range and value that customers expect from us as the Range.
“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.”
In September 2023, CDS bought the rights to the Wilko brand, the budget homeware retailer that had fallen into administration the previous month. Since then CDS has opened seven Wilko outlets – all in high street or shopping centre locations – with plans for more next year.
CDS had said it planned to open 40 Wilko stores this year but with heavy competition in the cut-price household goods market and a battle to find suitable stores, it has missed that target.
The acquisitions come amid rumours that CDS is preparing for a launch on the stock market – a move that it prepared for and then ditched several years ago.
Simpkin said “substantial investments in infrastructure” had positioned the group to confidently enter its “next phase of growth”.
He said opening Wilko stores had enabled the group to test new formats – trying out shopping centre and high street locations instead of the edge of town or out-of-town sites favoured by the Range.
“We’re a well-funded, financially sound business, and our comparably low levels of external debt have empowered us to invest in future opportunities. We’ve identified hundreds of locations and communities that would benefit from our presence and are committed to giving customers easy access to great-value home, leisure, and garden products,” Simpkin said.
