The Range is set to snap up dozens of Homebase stores as the DIY retailer heads for administration, saving 1,500 jobs but leaving uncertainty around a further 1,700.
Teneo is reportedly being lined up as an administrator and will oversee the sale of up to 75 stores to The Range in a £30 million deal, including the Homebase brand and website.
A sales process for Homebase’s remaining 50 stores is set to follow, according to Sky News, bringing an end to six years of ownership by Hilco Capital, which bought the chain for £1 in 2018.
“We are delighted to be able to save so many stores and jobs,” The Range owner Chris Dawson told The Telegraph.
“[We] look forward to adding the Homebase brand and subsidiaries to the expanding Range group of companies.”
Discount food retailers, DIY rivals and other high street brands are among those to have registered interest in the remaining stores, Sky added.
This includes Wickes and Topps Tiles, The Telegraph reported, after Sainsbury’s scooped up several Homebase stores earlier in the year.
Homebase posted an £84.2 million loss in the year to January 2023, having been hit by growing costs and cautious consumer spending.