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33-612: Great Mills may refer to: Great Mills (DIY) , a large DIY chain in the United Kingdom bought by Focus in 2000 Great Mills, Maryland , an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States Great Mills High School , a comprehensive public high school in Great Mills, Maryland See also [ edit ] Great Mill (disambiguation) Topics referred to by

66-403: A Homebase takeover deal, with an insider revealing that a formal sale process was due to begin within the next few days. In August 2024, Hilco sold 10 Homebase locations to Sainsbury's for £130 million, to be converted into supermarkets. On 13 November 2024, it was reported that Hilco was preparing to place the business into administration , with the retailer collapsing into administration on

99-463: A new Central Distribution Centre was opened in July 1997. The purpose-built development was fully automated and used computer systems to monitor stock control and to make sure deliveries were made on time to stores. In 1998, Great Mills appointed Jill Keen from Asda as marketing director, taking over from Peter Bastin. RMC Group put Great Mills up for sale in 2000, as chief executive Peter Young said

132-531: A quarter of Homebase stores by 2019, and that it would increase the number of Argos and Habitat concessions within the stores. In April 2015, former Tesco executive Echo Lu succeeded Paul Loft as Managing Director. On 18 January 2016, it was announced that Australian retailer Wesfarmers, owners of Australia's leading hardware store Bunnings, would acquire Homebase for £340 million, subject to shareholder approval. The transfer of ownership to Wesfarmers took place on 27 February 2016 and afterwards Peter Davis

165-445: A staff of four. The store had a modest turnover of £50,000 but within six months, the turnover had doubled. In the beginning of the 1990s, Great Mills launched Bay6 (Basics). These stores were identical in size, look and layout to those of rival retailer Wickes . Wickes bought the six Bay6 stores in 1995 from Great Mills' parent company, RMC . Four were already trading, and two were under construction. An important step forward for

198-411: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Great Mills (DIY) At its height, Great Mills had approximately 3,500 employees, 90 stores nationwide and over 20,000 products in range. Originally known as Clapton Building Supplies, the first store at Paulton , Somerset in 1972 was officially opened by Tony Blackburn , an unwell Dulux Dog and

231-577: The 1990s, it was receiving the vast majority of its stock into central warehouses, then delivering it to stores. Homebase still receives a few direct deliveries to its stores, from manufacturers and vendors. In May 2009, Homebase discontinued its own loyalty programme, the Spend & Save Card, and replaced it with the Nectar loyalty card scheme, the United Kingdom's largest retail loyalty card. The Spend & Save card had been used by Homebase since 1982, and

264-668: The CVA were planned to close by the beginning of 2019. Homebase secured a £95 million asset lending contract with Wells Fargo Capital Finance on 26 November 2018. On 24 December 2018, Hilco opened its first redesigned store nicknamed BoB (Best of Both) in Orpington. The store featured traditional Homebase "gondola" shelving alongside the Bunnings red racking, with a heavy focus on decorating, moving away from Wesfarmers' primary focus on tools. At that time Homebase had over 170 stores in

297-837: The Homebase format, beginning in February 1996, with the store in Longwell Green , Bristol . The transformation was completed by 1999. By the time of the purchase, Texas had staff totalling 11,600, and Homebase had 4,500. In October 1999, Sainsbury's bought Hampden Group, the franchisee of ten Homebase stores in Ireland. In August 2000, the former chief executive of Texas Homecare, Ron Trenter, made an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Homebase. In September 2000, Focus Do It All considered acquiring Homebase, but instead decided to acquire Great Mills . The next month, Home Depot joined

330-554: The No Frills DIY chain. Other than external signage saying No Frills, the interior of the stores followed no corporate planning as the concept was to sell anything and everything in an attempt to make the loss-making store profitable again. Only St. Austell got close to being in profit before the entire chain was shut with the sale of Great Mills. Whilst none of the stores made a profit before closure, they did significantly reduce their losses. To further reduce distribution costs,

363-846: The UK and Ireland. Homebase was founded by the supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GB-Inno-BM in 1979, as Sainsbury's Homebase . The goal was to bring a supermarket style layout to the British Do It Yourself (DIY) market. The first store was in Croydon , opening on 3 March 1981, located on the Purley Way . Homebase tripled in size in January 1995, when Sainsbury's bought rival store group Texas Homecare from Ladbrokes . These stores were rebranded and converted to

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396-517: The United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, until it was sold to the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in January 2016. Wesfarmers' management was not a success, and in August 2018, the business was sold to restructuring firm Hilco for £1. Subsequently, Hilco announced that it would close 42 of

429-545: The United Kingdom, with a further eleven in Ireland. In February 2020, it was announced that Homebase had returned to profit earlier than initially forecast, with nearly all of its 164 locations profitable. The company claims that its overhauled website, and the reintroduction of in-store concessions (many of which were removed by Wesfarmers) had helped it to achieve the reprise. Homebase confirmed that it would exit its CVA earlier than planned by April 2020. In November 2020, Hilco put Homebase up for sale. In 2021, Hugh Osmond

462-537: The benefits of free labour through work experience, called Workfare . The offending poster depicted a number of volunteer staff at the Haringey branch and was captioned: "How the work experience programme can benefit your store. Would 750 hours with no payroll costs help YOUR store?" Homebase released contradictory statements, the first stating "The company is not signed up to the Workfare Programme" and

495-407: The business "is not a core part of what we do". Later that year, the business was acquired by Focus Do It All , after they switched their attentions from Homebase . The Great Mill stores were all externally rebranded, though some retained parts of the interior branding. Great Mills had almost 100 stores in the UK at the time of the proposed sale In 2011, Focus DIY entered administration. Some of

528-638: The chain's stores, and cut 1,500 jobs through a company voluntary arrangement , in an attempt to return it to profitability. By February 2020, Homebase had 164 outlets, and was again profitable, with Hilco listing the retailer for sale in November 2020. In November 2024, Homebase collapsed into administration . Norton Group Holdings , owner of The Range and Wilko , acquired the brand and 70 stores, to be converted into The Range locations, with plans for Homebase to continue trading as online-only. Administrators are seeking buyers for its 74 remaining stores across

561-504: The company came in 1992, with the introduction of a new central distribution method of delivering products to its stores. This saved many motorway miles as deliveries were coordinated, rather than having hundreds of suppliers delivering to the same store each day. Of the product range, over 70% was delivered by the Great Mills fleet in 2000 two or three times weekly. Some of the worst-performing Great Mills stores, at St. Austell , Salisbury and Northallerton , were rebranded in 1994 into

594-457: The end of the year. The stores adopted a low-cost warehouse model. In February 2018, Wesfarmers reported losses relating to the takeover of £57 million in the year to June 2017, and stated that it would begin a review of the business. Wesfarmers sought buyers for the business in March, and by May, had received bids from restructuring firms Alteri Investors and Hilco . On 25 May 2018, it

627-509: The ex-Great Mills were sold off to other retailers, while others were left empty. The original Great Mill flagship store in Paulton stood empty until 2015, when it became an outlet for Wickes . In 2017, the Great Mills name was purchased by Do It All and the business relaunched as an online retail store. Homebase HHGL Limited , trading as Homebase , is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre trading in

660-408: The new slogan "Make a house a home." From 2005 to 2008, Homebase used the song " Love Machine " by Girls Aloud in their television adverts. From 2007 to 2008, " Orinoco Flow " by Enya was used. From 2009 to 2013, "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman was used. In April 2013, Homebase faced criticism over a poster in a London store. The poster appeared to highlight

693-448: The purchase of 27 leasehold properties from Focus DIY , to be bought for £40 million in cash. The properties were transferred over the period up to 31 December 2007, and were then refitted to the Homebase fascia over the course of several months. No other infrastructure, and no merchandise stock were acquired as part of the transaction, although staff in these Focus stores transferred to Homebase. In July 2013, Home Retail Group said

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726-417: The race to acquire Homebase, but was not successful. On 22 December 2000, Sainsbury's sold the Homebase chain in a two-part deal worth £969 million: in March 2001, the sale of the chain of 283 stores to venture capitalist Schroder Ventures generated £750 million, and the sale of 28 development sites to Kingfisher plc , parent of Homebase rival B&Q , generated £219 million. At

759-517: The same day. Norton Group Holdings acquired the Homebase brand name, intellectual property, and 70 of the UK stores the same day, safeguarding about 1,500 jobs. The 70 stores will be rebranded under The Range name while the Homebase brand and products will still trade online. The remaining 49 stores and the business in the Republic of Ireland were not part of the deal. The Range's garden centres will be rebranded as "Garden Centre by Homebase". It

792-418: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Great Mills . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Mills&oldid=491139635 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

825-489: The second quarter of 2017, as Wesfarmers sought to remove all concessions and adopt the same business model as its Australian and New Zealand business. Bunnings confirmed in November 2016 that the Homebase store in St Albans would be the first to be re-branded as Bunnings Warehouse as part of a trial, and opened in February 2017. An additional three were planned to be opened by June 2017, with up to six more completed by

858-464: The second that "we have decided to make no further commitment to the Job Centre work experience programme". Protest groups called Homebase's scheme a "profit driven attack" on workers and benefit claimants, adding "We hope Homebase will soon join, Wilko , Superdrug and more than twenty other companies who have ended their involvement with workfare. However we are prepared for further protests in

891-588: The stores in Ireland had not made a profit in the previous five years, and that it intended to close three of the fifteen. In May 2014, Homebase launched the Homebase Design Centres . The new look stores had a Decorating Ideas and Advice Centre , offering touch screen technology, to help customers transform the look of rooms in their homes. Following a review of the business, Home Retail Group announced in October 2014 that it would close around

924-523: The time, the chain had 13% of the market in the United Kingdom, with 283 stores and 17,000 employees, behind B&Q and Focus Do It All . In November 2002, Homebase was sold again, this time to GUS plc (formerly Great Universal Stores plc) for £900 million, where it became part of Argos Retail Group (ARG). In October 2006, GUS split to form Experian and ARG. ARG was renamed Home Retail Group, within which Homebase operated until 27 February 2016. In October 2007, Home Retail Group agreed

957-469: Was announced that Homebase had been sold by Wesfarmers to turnaround specialists Hilco, for a nominal one pound sterling. Hilco took ownership of the business on 12 June 2018. All 24 stores converted to the Bunnings format were rebranded back to Homebase. At the end of August 2018, a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposed by Hilco to close 42 stores, and reduce rent on others, was approved by Homebase's creditors. The stores identified for closure in

990-565: Was appointed Managing Director, succeeding Echo Lu. Wesfarmers announced in June 2016 that it had cancelled the plans by Home Retail Group to close seven stores, and would seek to prevent the closure of eleven others. It described the closure of five additional stores as "unavoidable". It was also announced that Archie Norman was to advise on the turnaround of Homebase under Wesfarmers. Laura Ashley plc confirmed in October 2016 that it would remove its concessions trading in 22 Homebase stores by

1023-497: Was believed to be one of the first store loyalty cards in the world. Following the sale to Wesfarmers, Homebase left the Nectar scheme on 31 December 2016. From 1999 to 2005, Homebase used former Men Behaving Badly couple Neil Morrissey and Leslie Ash as a couple. Morrissey and Ash were the face of the brand for six years, until March 2005, when Homebase launched a series of new advertisements created by AMV BBDO , featuring

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1056-739: Was reported that administrators had set a deadline of 29 November 2024 to sell the remaining 74 stores to other chains, with a reported 2,000 jobs at risk. On 28 November 2024, it was revealed that Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher plc (owner of B&Q and Screwfix ) were interested in buying some of the remaining stores. The company moved its headquarters within Milton Keynes in December 2016, from premises previously shared with former sister company Argos. Early in its history, Homebase used its Sainsbury's experience to move into using central warehouses from which to deliver its stock. By

1089-539: Was understood to have been assembling a takeover bid for Homebase for £300 million. In February 2024, Hilco put Homebase up for sale for the second time within four years. In the same month, it was reported that Homebase had made heavy losses in the previous year, with Hilco continuing to look for a buyer, and that B&M European Value Retail and Norton Group Holdings (owner of The Range and Wilko ) had been approached regarding takeover deals. In July 2024, it emerged that Norton had approached Hilco Capital regarding

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