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HOMEBASE CLOSING !?!?

26 replies

Sonia1990x · 07/12/2024 19:57

Hi girls, I’ve just found out that my local Homebase is closing down due to liquidation!! I am absolutely GUTTED. I love popping there most weekends for a mooch!
PLEASE can somebody recommend their next best shop which is similar?? I hear some Homebase stores are being taken over by the range but I’ve never been to the range? Can someone advise on their shopping recommendations please.

thanks xoxo

OP posts:
SabbatWheel · 07/12/2024 20:00

Gosh, ours went years ago, didn’t know that they still had shops. Ours became a B&M.

StarsBeneathMyFeet · 07/12/2024 20:02

Our’s went years ago and was knocked down and turned into student housing! Wasn’t surprised because when you went in there were loads of staff milling about chatting but somehow never anyone to speak to if you needed something.
The Range is great! All sorts of good stuff in there including gardening and DIY stuff.

FelixtheAardvark · 07/12/2024 20:02

SabbatWheel · 07/12/2024 20:00

Gosh, ours went years ago, didn’t know that they still had shops. Ours became a B&M.

Same here. DS lost his part-time job when ours shut down. I thought they went under years ago! Ours is now an Aldi.

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twilightcafe · 07/12/2024 20:03

Ours shut a year ago and is now a B&M.

dementedpixie · 07/12/2024 20:17

Ours has been The Range for many years now. The Range sells painting and decorating items, homeware, craft stuff, pet stuff and ours has an outdoor garden centre bit (similar to homebase tbh). Has a big Christmas section just now.

MiddleClassWomanOfACertainAge · 07/12/2024 20:22

B&Q sell much the same stuff.

Marmiteandmilk · 07/12/2024 20:24

mine also became a b&m quite a few years ago now, pre Covid, I thought they’d all shut down at the time

Normallynumb · 07/12/2024 20:27

Ours went years ago!
Off the top of my head
B and M
The range
Home bargains
B+Q for tools etc
I was never bowled over by the stuff they sold.
Nothing you couldn't get from elsewhere

biscuitsandbooks · 07/12/2024 20:28

I didn't even realise they still existed, lol.

LinesAndLinesAndLinesAndLines · 07/12/2024 20:29

Ours has been gone ages. It's an absolutely massive B&M now.

Bizarred · 07/12/2024 20:30

Screwfix is much cheaper. Probably one near your old Homebase.

Owmyelbow · 07/12/2024 20:35

Our is long gone. Empty building now. Next door to what used to be Wilko. I miss Wilko more

mrspresents · 07/12/2024 20:41

Ours went years ago, now a B&M

mrsed1987 · 07/12/2024 20:48

Ours closed about 3 months ago and is going to be and m and s food! So excited 😂

saturdayfilm · 07/12/2024 21:12

Ours is going too. I favour B&Q because it's bigger and cheaper. But I don't want to see Homebase go.

I hate it when big shops close down - they don't seem to get replaced with anything as good (or anything at all). Still mourning the loss of our local Debenhams 😢

saturdayfilm · 07/12/2024 21:13

mrsed1987 · 07/12/2024 20:48

Ours closed about 3 months ago and is going to be and m and s food! So excited 😂

Yeah, I'd happily take that swap.

SueFielding · 07/12/2024 21:14

What do you buy at Homebase?

Garden centres are everywhere. Tools and DIY stuff from Screwfix/Toolstation. Everything else from Range/Boyes/B&M and as a very last resort, Been & Queued.

VegTrug · 07/12/2024 21:17

“Hi girls?!” Hmm

uptheculdesac · 07/12/2024 21:48

Wow. I thought Homebase folded years ago. I haven't seen one around me for years

Sonowimbackfromouterspace · 07/12/2024 22:18

B&Q, Wickes, Toolstation, and Screwfix are all excellent alternatives to Homebase. The fact that The Range may be taking over some branches is neither here nor there, as The Range is not a DIY store - it's like a glorified B&M. Which, as other have said, have already taken over a great number of Homebase stores years ago.

Way, way back in the day (almost 30 years ago) I used a Homebase store extensively, as I'd just got my first flat, and the nearest DIY store was a Homebase. They had an amazing range of goods, a brilliant loyalty scheme (called Spend & Save), they opened until 8pm (thus I could go after work), and the prices were round about right. I shopped with them for years.

And then it all seemed to change; the Spend & Save card scheme was stopped, goods seemed to be more expensive than other shops (making it worth travelling further afield), and other stores such as Wickes really began to up their game.

Coming from the other direction, we had online shopping, which of course has been a game changer. I long gave up going to any Homebase store years ago.

The one nearest to where I live now used to be a Texas - I remember being taken then once by my parents when I was little. These days, it looked like a smash & grab in a British Heart Foundation warehouse, and the shop itself was worn & tired. They had an Argos counter in it some years ago, briefly, which caused a lot of disruption when it was installed, and a lot more when it was taken out, following the acquisition of Argos by Sainsbury's, who absolutely did not wish to become the owner of Homebase for a second time.

One of the few times I went there in recent times made me want to never go again - I required a small plumbing part, which was showing as three in stock when viewed online, but couldn't be located by me on the shop floor. The assistant refused to help me look, or to get someone to help me look, because "It'll be here somewhere". So I went to the customer service desk, explained my situation (including being told no one could help me look) and said I would be happy to order & pay online right there & then and wait for the part to be brought to me, or they could get me someone who could help me find it and I would pay at the till...their choice. You don't get any of that crap at Screwfix or Toolstation, and in my city there's branches of both every few miles - usually both on the same industrial estate too. My decision as to which one I use is only ever determined by which one has the stock of what I need.

Homebase has been bought & sold several times over the last 10+ years, and my local store was already closing down to become a Sainsbury's supermarket, when the announcement was made that the entire chain had once again fallen into administration.

ItsBlowinAHoolieOut · 07/12/2024 22:20

SabbatWheel · 07/12/2024 20:00

Gosh, ours went years ago, didn’t know that they still had shops. Ours became a B&M.

So did ours probably closed 4/5 years ago ? Was b&m stores 2/3 years ago

ForPearlViper · 07/12/2024 22:26

I didn't even know they were still around they'd already closed so many stores. Last I was in one, a couple of years ago, there were no customers and had nothing I couldn't buy somewhere else cheaper. They lost their way years ago and won't be any loss.

If you say what you liked mooching about in there, OP, I think people could advise you better. But you can see you have had a whole pile of better suggestions.

Gingernaut · 07/12/2024 22:30

My local Homebase is in a retail park close to my house

There are Closing Down signs all over it, but the staff haven't been told when it will shut down

The nearest Screwfix is a bus ride away, as is the nearest Toolstation

B&Q and Wickes are fucking miles away and awkward to get to

I'll miss Homebase

Onelifeonly · 07/12/2024 22:31

Our last remaiming local one closed years ago but is still waiting for homes to be built on the site. Used to love going there. Now buy online or use B&Q. Or Dunelm for cheap homewear or IKEA. Homebase used to try to have everything - tools, paint, wallpaper, plants, bathrooms, storage, curtains, bedding etc but over time did none of them well imo.

Canestenpeasant · 07/12/2024 22:33

Oh my lord, imagine this was your life. Spending your weekends ‘mooching’ round Homebase and being bitterly disappointed it was closing. There but for the grace of god and all that