Surprise, surprise...Homebase in the brown stuff!

[chainsaw_masochist]

Is anybody really surprised at the decline of this truly cr@ppy chain?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29719512

 

[footprints]

No surprise they lost their way in the DIY market tried to be a Habitat store with the emphasis on tat!
The only time I use them for DIY is because they still do board cutting.

 

[AronSearle]

Well, there are two stores in high wycombe, about 5 minutes drive from each other.

I'm only suprised they managed to justify both of them for so long.

 

[cajar]

it stops a competitor taking one of the stores. bookies do this a lot.

 

[AronSearle]

All the competitors have stores in the same area though, along the main road is 1 of everything.

 

[EddieM]

Well, there are two stores in high wycombe, about 5 minutes drive from each other.

I'm only suprised they managed to justify both of them for so long.

One in loudwater (old texas), where's the other one?

 

[AronSearle]

Along london road, about 2/5ths along towards town.

 

[longdogs]

Their stock of plumbing materials is dire.

All stores these days want to sell a bit of everything but specialise in nothing. My local garden centre which is a large shop sells furniture, nik-naks (cr@p), meals, coffee, xmas decorations, sweets, jams, etc etc but try and buy some grass seed and they havn't got any.

 

[EddieM]

I find them useful for poor quality, very expensive pre warped wood.

 

[longdogs]

I find them useful for poor quality, very expensive pre warped wood.

Ideal for building boats

 

[Whitespirit66]

I find them useful for poor quality, very expensive pre warped wood.

They don't have a monopoly on this. I usually use a timber merchant, but recently I only needed a couple of planks and couldn't be bothered to go into town. Instead, I visited B&Q but could find nothing useable in the size I wanted. Every single piece was either split, warped, or both.

Had to trek into town to the merchant after all. The difference in quality was worlds apart.

 

[Dave54]

Problem I have with all these big business type of places is that they want to stock what they want you to buy, rather than stocking what you want to buy.
We know that (they think that) business is all about profit, but when the service or product that customers want is is no longer available then the profit follows them somewhere else.
First stop for me when I want something is either the local independent hardware warehouse for all the bits and pieces, or timber merchants, builders merchants etc.

 

[youngroughcaster]

Not suprised atall, very expensive. It was bound to happen sooner or later!

 

[longdogs]

I went into Homebase today to try and buy a sink (long story but my order at screwfix went wrong) and they had no takeaway sinks available at all. All were to order. I remember when Homebase used to have a great selection of takeaway sinks, twenty or so displayed on the wall.

Shame I didn't want Christmas decorations, they had plenty of those

 

[HawkEye244]

Put it this way the only time I've used Homebase the entire duration of doing my house up was to purchase rat poison...

"Home Retail is today further underlining the rebalancing taking place by the retail industry away from the High Street and towards online sales," said Keith Bowman from Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.

Of course there is truth in the above but doesn't explain why Screwfix and Toolstation are booming. I spend probably thousands in these two stores a year, with Wickes and B&Q getting a look in and my local timber merchants. Nobody whose into DIY or a builder by profession spends more than a fraction of their overall spend on ''online sales'' it's just not convenient.

I think they've failed to lower their prices thinking they can justify selling 'standard' stuff you'd get just about anywhere at a better price.

I do feel sorry for all the people that will lose jobs though, whether it goes completely down hill like Comet or gets bought out people are going to be out of work and it's not their fault

Also I think all the big DIY stores could do well from less of this SALE ON OFFER NOW bullshit. Most consumers know what they want to pay before they set foot in the door, and all these discounts are usually just retail prices masked as SALE prices - this is especially true of the kitchens .. although I suppose some people are quite happy to pay a premium if they got the money not to worry ..