Texas Homecare

Texas Homecare was a chain of DIY stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which once rivalled B&Q, Do It All, and Great Mills. The firm operated from 1972 until 1996, with some stores lasting until 1999.

Texas Homecare
SuccessorHomebase
Founded1972
Defunct1996
1999 (last few stores)
HeadquartersHolborn, London,
United Kingdom
ParentLadbrokes (1986–1995)
Sainsbury's (1995–1999)

History

Texas Homecare was established in 1972, by Manny, Sydney and Gerald Fogel, who had previously founded the high street specialist paint and wallpaper chain Home Charm. Taking their lead from America, they revolutionised the market of DIY in the United Kingdom, with the introduction of the 'DIY shed' style outlet.

Mervyn Fogel, co founder and managing director for over twenty five years, had a vision of turning the small family business into a retail empire for DIY. Texas specialised in higher volume, lower margin DIY products. The company had been adversely affected by a recession and depressed housing market. Ladbrokes officially acquired the chain in April 1986, which they sold within nine years.[1]

Acquisition

In January 1995, Ladbrokes put the firm up for sale. Later in the month, Sainsbury's bought out Texas Homecare, and with its acquisition, Homebase hoped to hold around 10% of the total DIY market in the United Kingdom.[2] In May 1995, however, it was announced that only twenty six stores of Texas were to close, with limited redundancies. Sainsbury's found that full conversion to the Homebase format was an investment worth making, and allowed £50 million for the task.

By the time of the purchase, Texas had staff totaling 11,600, and Homebase had 4,500. These stores were rebranded, and redesigned to the format of Homebase, the first to be converted being in Longwell Green, Bristol in February 1996. A few other stores were sold off to other retailers; including the store in Merry Hill in the West Midlands, which closed in 1995, which was then split between PC World and Currys.

The last sixty stores of Texas Homecare were converted to Homebase in 1999, and the name Texas vanished from high streets, shopping malls and retail parks. In August 2000, the former chief executive of Texas Homecare, Ron Trenter, made an unprecedented bid for Homebase, which was sold off within four months.[3]

Advertising

In its early years, Texas was famous for its television advertising slogan: Texas — THE BIG ONE!. In later years, Texas used the fictional character, named Texas Tom, in its advertising. During the beginning of the 1990s, this campaign was altered slightly to refer to Tom's Place: Only at Tom's Place!.

See also

References
  1. Nigel Cope (13 January 1995). "Sainsbury's tipped to buy Texas". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  2. Nigel Cope (25 January 1995). "Sainsbury's buys out Texas DIY". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  3. Kate Rankine (25 August 2000). "Ex-Texas chief may join Homebase bid". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
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