Homebase to close 10 stores as major supermarket chain plans expansion

The British home improvement retailer has revealed that it will close a selection of its 144 locations in a deal costing more than £1million.

Several Homebase employees are now at risk of redundancy, though they could be saved by a major supermarket chain.

Sainsbury’s has agreed to snap up all the affected shops and transform them into supermarkets for a cool £130m.

The move is expected to generate around 1,000 new jobs, plus Sainsbury’s has said it will offer interviews to any staff affected by the closures.

Homebase locations earmarked for conversion are situated across the UK, from Northern Ireland to Hampshire, England.

Each location boasts between 15,000 to 40,000 square feet of trading space and Sainsbury’s aims to have some of its new stores up and running by next summer, with the remainder ready by the end of 2025.

Sainsbury’s, which holds the title of Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain, stated it will also enable nearly 400,000 more people to be within a 10-minute drive of a Sainsbury’s supermarket.

The transfer of the sites is slated for early next month, with the significant expansion of the supermarket set to boost its total shop floor area by 235,000 square feet of trading space.

Homebase as a brand is also expected to be sold by its owner, Hilco Capital, after being approached by The Range.

Hilco Capital purchased Homebase from Wesfarmers in 2018 for £1. It has closed 106 stores since it was taken over by the company.

Simon Roberts, chief executive officer, of Sainsbury’s commented: “We have the best combination of value and quality in the market and that’s winning us customers from all our key competitors and driving consistent growth in volume market share.

“We want to build on this momentum which is why we are growing our supermarket footprint.

“Our ambition is to be customers’ first choice for food and these new stores will showcase some of the best that Sainsbury’s supermarkets have to offer to even more communities around the country”.