Homebase aims to put on the Style with own-brand launch

Homebase, Britain’s second-biggest home improvements retailer behind Kingfisher’s B&Q chain, plans to step up its focus on decorating and services as it battles to win share in a struggling marketplace.

The chain, owned by Home Retail Group, said yesterday it was launching a range of own-brand interior decorating products called Home of Style and it would test new product areas like carpets, as well as offering services such as painting and decorating and lawn maintenance.

Managing director Paul Loft said it was aiming to capture former customers of Focus DIY, which collapsed earlier this year, and differentiate itself more clearly from B&Q, which also aims to appeal to tradesmen.

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“We believe this business has got clear recovery potential,” he said.

“Some of that is contingent on the marketplace and the economy, obviously. But... we’re developing new ways of investing in the business that means when the change in the economy comes we will be well placed and we should be able to grow significantly.”

Many retailers, particularly those focused on ‘big ticket’ areas of spending like kitchens and bathrooms, have been hit hard as shoppers cut back amid rising prices, muted wages growth, government austerity and a fragile housing market.

Homebase last week reported a 3.1 per cent fall in second-quarter sales from stores open over a year.

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Spokesman Chris Wermann said the chain’s revamp would be funded from within Home Retail’s existing £150m a year of capital spending.

It will include improving ranges, like mirrors, across its 342 stores in Britain and Ireland, and upgrading around 150 mezzanine floors focused on ‘big ticket’ areas of spending over three years at a cost of about £500,000 apiece.

Full store upgrades will require more experimentation, Mr Loft said, adding Homebase had hired design consultant Dalziel and Pow to help it refurbish a store in Maidenhead, west of London, to be completed around spring 2012.

The new Home of Style range will include 2,500 products spread across departments like lighting, cooking and bathrooms. It will be complemented by more upmarket ranges in kitchens and bedrooms, as well as products next year from Habitat UK furniture brand which Home Retail bought earlier this year.

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