Homebase Appoints Ian Penney as Director of Bathstore

Homebase, one of the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, has appointed Ian Penney as Director of Bathstore and announces three new concession partnerships.

The appointment follows the acquisition of Bathstore, the UK's largest specialist bathroom retailer, by Homebase in July 2019 in a move that is set to considerably strengthen its bathroom offer.

Homebase bought the Bathstore business last month following its collapse into administration in June.

As Director of Bathstore, Ian will take direct management responsibly for all aspects of the Bathstore business, including the concession roll out into Homebase, Bathstore's digital offering and the home improvement chain's bathroom category. Ian will be part of the Homebase senior leadership team, reporting into the CEO of Homebase, Damian McGloughlin.

Having started his career as Supply Chain Analyst with B&Q, Ian arrives at Bathstore with 13 years of senior retail experience behind him. Most recently he was Group Category Director (Kitchens) for Kingfisher, responsible for the strategic direction of the Kitchen business across seven European countries.

Damian McGloughlin, CEO of Homebase, said: "We are delighted to welcome Ian into Homebase as Director of Bathstore. Ian's leadership qualities and experience of delivering a customer-first approach will be instrumental to the business as we look to strengthen our showroom offer to customers."

Ian Penney, Director of Bathstore, said: "I'm proud to be leading the experienced and knowledgeable Bathstore team at this hugely important milestone in the history of the brand. We've got a really exciting opportunity to reinvigorate Bathstore as we continue to run standalone stores and start to introduce concessions into Homebase."

Concessions

Deals have been signed with furniture and flooring specialist, AHF Furniture and Carpets, Denby, the Derbyshire based manufacturer of high-quality ceramics and homeware, and luxury bedding and bathroom brand Bedeck. These new concession partners will further expand the range of furniture, soft furnishing and homewares now available in Homebase.

This is the latest in a series of concession announcements made by Homebase over the last 12-months, with partnerships already in place with Ponden Home, Tapi and Silentnight.

Damian McGloughlin, CEO of Homebase, said: "We have been working tirelessly over the past 12- months to rebuild our range and offer as part of our wide-ranging turnaround plan. Reintroducing complementary concessions is a key pillar of our strategy, and we're delighted to have three new partnerships.

"All three brands have solid reputations for quality products and are a perfect fit for us as we continue to build our offer. We want to be the destination for home and garden improvement projects and working with partners such as Denby, AHF and Bedeck will support our efforts in achieving this goal."

Retail Week reports that Ian's responsibilities will include rolling out Bathstore concessions into Homebase's stores.

Damian McGloughlin, Homebase CEO, said: ”Ian’s leadership qualities and experience of delivering a customer-first approach will be instrumental to the business as we look to strengthen our showroom offer to customers.”

Ian Penney said: “I’m proud to be leading the experienced and knowledgeable Bathstore team at this hugely important milestone in the history of the brand.

“We’ve got a really exciting opportunity to reinvigorate Bathstore as we continue to run standalone stores and start to introduce concessions into Homebase.”

Source : Insight DIY Team

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