Home Bargains
Encyclopedia
Home Bargains is a chain of discount stores, offering home bargains, operating throughout the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, founded by Tom Morris in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 approximately 30 years ago. It is part of the TJ Morris
TJ Morris
TJ Morris Ltd comprises several businesses including Home Bargains , property ownership, and Far Eastern ventures.-Home Bargains:...

 chain, who also have stores under the name Halfpriceorless.

History

The chain was founded by Tom Morris approximately 30 years ago when he opened his first store in Old Swan, Liverpool, (which shut in September 2008 after over 30 years of business). Morris comes from a retailing family that had run shops for over two generations. The original Liverpool stores were called Home & Bargain, but were changed to Home Bargains in the late 1990s (although it's common for Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

 area customers to still refer to it by its original name). Their head office is in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

.

Stores

Home Bargains stores have red and sky blue branding. They can usually be found in major shopping streets as well as in shopping centres and arcades. Although most are centrally located several are in out-of-town retail parks.

Stores range from small to medium outlets, with the retail park outlets being slightly larger. Most stores have a one way system, with shoppers going in one door and exiting via another.

Growth

The retailer has been given approval to construct new headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, which it estimates will create 700 jobs at the Axis business park, Croxteth
Croxteth
Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. It is known locally as "Crocky"...

, as it builds a 10-storey distribution centre and retail training facility. The approval means the chain can expand by a further 360 stores across the country to reach a turnover of up to £1 billion. The chain aims to have 500 stores within 10 years with employee numbers exceeding 10,000. The retailer wants to expand to other parts of the UK in the future, but Morris added: "We want to grow slowly, at a rate which is controllable. We don't want to over-expand."

In August 2007, two stores in South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

 were opened in Barry and Caerphilly
Caerphilly
Caerphilly is a town in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales, located at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, with a population of approximately 31,000. It is a commuter town of Cardiff and Newport, which are located some 7.5 miles and 12 miles away, respectively...

, these had been acquired from Netto which abandoned its plans to expand into the region.
Home Bargains further grew their presence in South Wales by taking over stores from Buyology, all of these were originally Hypervalue
Hypervalue
Hyper Value Limited was incorporated in 1980 by Ken Rogers, the founder and then Chairman of the Hypervalue Group. It was best known for the discount retail stores that encompassed the whole of South Wales, extending into the South West of England and as far away as Southampton. As of late 2006...

 stores.

In Summer 2008, the retailer acquired a number of former Kwik Save
Kwik Save
Kwik Save was a discount supermarket chain in the United Kingdom until 2007. Its stores were small to medium sized high street supermarkets, mainly located in areas with below average incomes...

 stores which had lain empty since that retailer had gone into administration in 2006, further expanding the Home Bargains chain. These stores included Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale is a town in West Lancashire, England. It lies on high-ground on the River Tawd, to the west of Wigan, to the northeast of Liverpool, south-southwest of Preston. As of 2006, Skelmersdale had a population of 38,813, down from 41,000 in 2004. The town is known locally as Skem.The...

, Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

, Rhyl
Rhyl
Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...

, and Ebbw Vale.

The retailer announced in October 2008 that preparations are underway to expand into Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 for the first time, opening their first store in Rutherglen
Rutherglen
Rutherglen is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1975, it lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow. In 1996 Rutherglen was reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.-History:...

 in December 2008. There are plans to invest more than £10m in its first group of stores, and by March 2009 the company aims to have six stores within the Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 area, employing more than 200 people.

In 2009, the retailer acquired 14 former Woolworths
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...

 stores from the failed Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...

 chain. These stores include Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

 and Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...

 in South Wales. In Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, two former Woolworths stores have been opened in shopping centres in Glenrothes
Glenrothes
Glenrothes is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife...

 and Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...

. By 2015, the firm aims to be turning over £1bn a year, and have grown the number of its stores to 350, with the potential for 600 across the UK.

In February 2010, the companies £25 million Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 expansion plan was announced .

Quality Save

The owner of Home Bargains, TJ Morris, is the supplier of similar discount chain Quality Save
Quality Save
Quality Save is a chain of discount stores operating in Northern England. They are supplied by another chain of discount chains TJ Morris which are sometimes mistaken to be the same company.-History:...

. TJ Morris supplies Quality Save with everything from confectionery and drinks to trolleys and tills. Because of this Quality Save and Home Bargains are often thought to be the same company.

Financial performance

The chain have seen strong sales growth over the past few years, with turnover more than doubling in the period 2006 - 2010.
Week ending Turnover (£m) Trading profit
Earnings before interest and taxes
In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes is a measure of a firm's profit that excludes interest and income tax expenses. Operating income is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses...

 (£m)
Retained profit
Net income
Net income is the residual income of a firm after adding total revenue and gains and subtracting all expenses and losses for the reporting period. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings...

(£m)
30 June 2010 590 46.6
30 June 2009 484 43.5
30 June 2008 383 34.7
30 June 2007 322 30.2
30 June 2006 273 20.3

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK