Bargain Buy Homebase stores for only 5p each !

Im glad to see theres someone else out there as mad as me.

 

Yep, and Texas as well.

Seems to me that as stores close - some new ones pop up - I'd never heard of The Range or B&M or Home Bargains until a couple of years ago. So the demand must be out there.

 

It amazes me how little people do themselves these days. Yesterday I rummaged through my shed for my 9" angle grinder, big rotary hammer drill+ sds drill/chisel bits, 14lbs sledghammer and long (30"?) masonry chisels and wondered how many others in my street have stuff like that for jobs at home. Some people don't even clean their 1st floor windows, let alone replace their eaves gutter, hang doors, replace floors, construct stud partitions, construct fireplaces, plaster walls and ceilings, re-plumb their house, replace sash cords, install fitted kitchens, tile walls, lay paving slabs, lay drains, or even wallpaper.

For example, who has their own sash cramps these days?

 

That’s true. I’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve wanted xx boxes of tiles or rolls of this or that; hanging around while they look for them only to be told, “we can’t find them”. But having said that Wickes does have some good buys. We’ve done quite a lot of building work over the past few years and got some very good deals.

 

Lots of people DIY. Go to IKEA, buy pre packed furniture, buy an allen key and do some DIY assembly. I built this Billy Bookcase myself!

I don't think it is just DIY. I see so many garden paved over for driveways, houses built with not interesting features or style, modern art and minimalism, replaceable clothes instead of repairing them, pre-packaged food and take away. In so many areas I think we are loosing skills, character and craftmanship.

I actually think there is something a bit countercultural about gardening. Making time regularly to tend it, not just paving and concreting over everything to have a clean minimalist feel, using hands for something other than typing. I see it as like a silent revolt.

 

This article contains a list of stores to close Homebase To Close 42 Stores, Putting 1,500 Jobs At Risk

I went past a Bunnings on Monday and the sign outside had been changed back to Homebase.

 

My local is on the death list. Will miss the free plants and clearance deals. 40 mile round trip to the neareast b&q now.
Just hope the local screwfix doesnt close or else im right up the creek..

 

It's complicated. £2.30 In fuel to get to B&Q to get 10% off on a Wednesday, but the nearby Tescos put 50 - 75% off dented tins/torn packets clearance out on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and £10 spent there saves £10 to £30, whereas I'd need to be spending at least £23 at B&Q just to recoup fuel cost of a special trip and at least over £100 to make it worth going there just on a Wednesday.

 

According to this article, Amazon wants to turn former Homebase retail stores into warehouses for online deliveries, furthering the decline of instore shopping. Planners might take a dim view of thst change of use Amazon bids for Homebase stores to boost delivery arm

Is this the beginning of the end of retail shopping as we know it, with most stores adopting the Argos format?

Where will parents take their kids to run around on a wet weekend?