Last month, staff at the town’s Homebase on the Fairacres Retail Park said they were “gutted” after the company went into administration.
A rescue deal involving Chris Dawson’s CDS retail group has secured up to 1,600 jobs and 70 stores but it leaves the future of its remaining 2,000 workers and 49 shops unclear.
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The Abingdon Homebase appears to be one of the stores which has not been saved, as ‘store closing’ signs and ‘everything must go’ signs are now being run alongside signs telling shops the firm in is in administration.
In 2021, giant 23,800 sq ft Homebase opened at Fairacres Retail Park in a new unit alongside Lidl and Costa Coffee.
With Homebase gone, landlords Mays Properties will have to find a new retailer as a replacement.
(Image: Andy Ffrench) A member of staff said earlier: “As far as we know the Homebase in Cowley has been rescued but we haven’t – it looks like this one is going to close.
“There are 18 staff who work here and we’re all gutted.
“This Homebase only opened in 2021 – it’s a brand new store so it doesn’t make sense to close it.”
The staff member said the store could close within weeks, depending on the sale of existing stock.
She added: “We don’t know whether we will still be here much after Christmas – it looks like we will need to find something new in 2025.”
Hombase appointed administrators at consultancy Teneo before CDS, which owns The Range homeware outlets, bought the majority of its stores out of administration.
Damian McGloughlin, chief executive of Homebase, said the last three years had been “incredibly challenging” for DIY stores, blaming “a decline in consumer confidence and spending” after the pandemic.
“Against this backdrop, we have taken many and wide-ranging actions to improve trading performance including restructuring the business and seeking fresh investment.
“These efforts have not been successful and today we have made the difficult decision to appoint administrators.”
Homebase was bought for £1 by investment firm Hilco Capital in 2018, which introduced a swathe of cost-cutting measures in the subsequent years.
But the retail chain struggled as customers cut back on spending amid the cost-of-living crisis, and reported an £84.2 million loss last year.
In August, Sainsbury’s struck a deal to buy 10 Homebase stores and convert them into supermarkets.
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Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here.
He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.
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