Focus DIY in liquidation.

killwilly

killwilly

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,081
Name
Alan
Edit My Images
No
Just read that Focus DIY have gone into liquidation, if true, a very sad day for the staff.:'(
 
I was about to drop into my local one for some bits and bobs. Will be annoying if they shut as the nearest other sheds are much further away.
 
srichards said:
I was about to drop into my local one for some bits and bobs. Will be annoying if they shut as the nearest other sheds are much further away.
Click to expand...

Get there before everyone else, you might get some good offers.:)
 
They are not in liquidation. They are "Under Administration".

There is a big difference.
 
Either way they're in the poop. If someone bought them for a quid in 2007 and haven't made it work then it suggests there's something rather fundamental that is wrong.
 
Did they used to be called Do-it-all?

Bought a load of kitchen cabinets plus dining room table and chairs from them, all priced wrongly and did very nicely thank you
They were gormless so not surprising they are in the brown and smelly, needed to improve a lot
 
It's most definitely Administrators who have been appointed. What is unusual is that they were talking (making announcements) about it yesterday, in advance of formally appointing E&Y today.
 
I better get down there quick with my nectar card and spend the points sharpish

Sad times, and I still believe we haven't seen the worst of the economic downturn yet. :(
 
Sad times, and I still believe we haven't seen the worst of the economic downturn yet
Click to expand...
Yes, perhaps, but my local Focus was absolute rubbish, it's only positive was that it was the closest shed to me and I kept making the mistake of going in there, only to have to go to B&Q because Focus didn't have what I wanted.

Whilst the economic downturn is not good it will sort out the good retailers from the cr@p.
 
Ive been expecting them to go for a long time.

Focus took out a massive bank loan and brought Wickes and Great Mills.

After turning all the most profitable stores into Wickes they flogged Wickes off to Travis Perkins leaving them with a handful of mediocre stores and the writing has been on the wall for the last 5 years.
 
2blue4u said:
It's most definitely Administrators who have been appointed. What is unusual is that they were talking (making announcements) about it yesterday, in advance of formally appointing E&Y today.
Click to expand...

Did some major work with E&Y some years ago. I thought I was well paid but jeez the rate their top people were on was simply astounding.
 
Not surprising as they have been the MOST EXPENSIVE of all the stores for DECADES.

As "John oh" said, so much choice yet they never seem to have what I wanted.

Shame for the staff, but Capitalism at work, Survival of the fittest. More power to the remaining chains.
 
we used to have one years ago, the range have taken over now. I used to remember the do it all tv adverts, irony being is when my dad used to go in there, they were out of stock or didnt have what he wanted.

Well it looks like another one bites the dust, still cant believe woolworths is all shut up and gone, and i always thought that was a 'safe' franchise
 
when i lived in cumbria they built a new store down the road from B&Q in workington, generally had a poorer selection than B&Q howevr sometimes they were good for bargains, the bathroom suite we got for £250 including taps and fittings was an absolute steal!


but cant say im suprised though!
 
i am not so much bothered about the name going , its more about the jobs again , hopefully they will get bought out by someone else ..........
 
I remember MFI going bust about 6yrs ago, been in business a long long time, i'm not a fan of local Homebase = bloody expensive but they won't go bust as they're owned by Sainsbury's, plenty of propping up there. I'm surprised Tesco doesn't/haven't started their own chain, or maybe they're waiting to see how many go down before they do....
 
paulyoung666 said:
i am not so much bothered about the name going , its more about the jobs again , hopefully they will get bought out by someone else ..........
Click to expand...

On the news that B&Q have just bought 36 or 37 Focus stores.
 
Graham00 said:
I remember MFI going bust about 6yrs ago, been in business a long long time, i'm not a fan of local Homebase = bloody expensive but they won't go bust as they're owned by Sainsbury's, plenty of propping up there. I'm surprised Tesco doesn't/haven't started their own chain, or maybe they're waiting to see how many go down before they do....
Click to expand...

Sainsburys sold off Homebase years ago, they're now owned by the Home Retail Group who also own Argos & Comet. I don't think any of the chains are "propped up" tbh, if they aren't adding value to the group, off they'll pop.
 
I've never been a fan of Homebase since we decided to buy a leather recliner suite from them and they told us delivery was in excess of 13 weeks, and then a week later extended it again, at which time I told them where they should deliver it too. They even took 7 days to refund my money....
 
fabs said:
Sainsburys sold off Homebase years ago, they're now owned by the Home Retail Group who also own Argos & Comet. I don't think any of the chains are "propped up" tbh, if they aren't adding value to the group, off they'll pop.
Click to expand...

Blimey just shows how fast business moves pace, monopolisation isn't necessarilly a good thing, this is partly how the banking crisis started !
 
String said:
I've never been a fan of Homebase since we decided to buy a leather recliner suite from them and they told us delivery was in excess of 13 weeks, and then a week later extended it again, at which time I told them where they should deliver it too. They even took 7 days to refund my money....
Click to expand...

There used to be a term the "customer is always right" but i think in modern day terms it's more like the "customer always comes second"
...and we know what always comes first..the kerching bit !!
 
I used to work in the Harrogate one and it was possibly the worst job I ever had. I lived in Leeds so I used to end up making about 12 quid per shift with petrol and Harrogate being the most ridiculously expensive place to buy a sandwich.

It was dead as well, all the time so the shifts used to last an eternity.

Glad it's in liquidation.
 
For those in the industry (I was until I sold my business at end of March), the mystery was how Focus limped on for so long. They sold Wickes three or four years ago, and that was a far better business than Focus. No doubt needed get their astronomical borrowings down. But they were then left with Focus, a distant third to B&Q and Homebase, and a small clearance chain, No Frills.

They needed a CVA (creditors voluntary arrangement) about 18 months ago to essentially blackmail landlords of stores that they had closed into relieving them from substantial rent liabilities. Blackmail is my word. Company reorganisation specialists no doubt see it another way.

Their stores are a bit of a joke in terms of product selection and stock availability. Sad for the staff, but in terms of what the diy market needs, Focus, like MFI before them, will be no loss.

By the way, Comet are not part of Home Retail Group, which is Argos and Homebase. Homebase is clearly the junior member of that group, but, right now, it's performance is holding up OK whereas Argos is struggling. So no propping up going on there.
 
does wanting the whole company to bleed slowly to death because I hated one manager there make me a bad person?
 
It's part of the changing landscape of UK retail, some firms respond to changes and others don't. Personally I can't see Dixons or WH Smith surviving in their current form in the long term either.
 
Beardy said:
It's part of the changing landscape of UK retail, some firms respond to changes and others don't. Personally I can't see Dixons or WH Smith surviving in their current form in the long term either.
Click to expand...

JJB Sport's coat (or should that be tracksuit jacket?) is on a shoogly peg too...
 
I purchased four packs of tongue and groove wood from them. Plonked it all on the checkout and the spotty faced kid scanned it all as one item :thumbs: I for one will miss them :(
 
Did a company not buy focus a few years ago for a pound and took on there debt of 200 million, looks like that was a good move then :'(
 
Beardy said:
It's part of the changing landscape of UK retail, some firms respond to changes and others don't. Personally I can't see Dixons or WH Smith surviving in their current form in the long term either.
Click to expand...

Dixons Retail has only recently rebranded itself and shed any loss making area, as it has done many times in the past. It's how they've always done it and the reason they will be around as a group for many years.
 
u8myufo said:
I purchased four packs of tongue and groove wood from them. Plonked it all on the checkout and the spotty faced kid scanned it all as one item :thumbs: I for one will miss them :(
Click to expand...

That'll be theft then :nono:
 
fabs said:
Dixons Retail has only recently rebranded itself and shed any loss making area, as it has done many times in the past. It's how they've always done it and the reason they will be around as a group for many years.
Click to expand...

We are all entitled to our opinions but I disagree...they have no USP, poor customer service, face ever increasing competition both online and now from Best Buy and probably the worst dynamic is that they are totally reliant on their suppliers to keep bringing out "must have" products. There are not many companies who when they have a profit warning due to collapsing market share say they will never get it back.....

The only way Dixons has survived is because of the amount of money they make from extended warranties.
 
Last edited:
Beardy said:
We are all entitled to our opinions but I disagree...they have no USP, poor customer service, face ever increasing competition both online and now from Best Buy and probably the worst dynamic is that they are totally reliant on their suppliers to keep bringing out "must have" products. There are not many companies who when they have a profit warning due to collapsing market share say they will never get it back.....

The only way Dixons has survived is because of the amount of money they make from extended warranties.
Click to expand...

Well we'll have to agree to disagree then. My opinion comes from 12 years as a Commercial Analyst with them so I'm happy I know what I'm talking about.
 
fabs said:
Well we'll have to agree to disagree then. My opinion comes from 12 years as a Commercial Analyst with them so I'm happy I know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

You should take all your money out of the bank and buy some of their bonds then....paying a nice healthy 13% per annum over the next four years.
 
Beardy said:
W
The only way Dixons has survived is because of the amount of money they make from extended warranties.
Click to expand...

I thought Dixons went pop last year - arent they part of Currys now - Currys Digital or some such ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top