Homebase appoints new Bathstore director

Ian Penney has been appointed as director of Bathstore after Homebase rescued the company last month.

Bathstore was put into administration in June following several months of difficult trading and was subsequently bought out by Homebase a month later.

Penney will manage Bathstore, which includes its 44 stores, online offering and the Homebase concessions that will roll out in the next couple of months. He will be part of the Homebase senior leadership team, reporting to Homebase chief executive Damian McGloughlin.

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.”

Ian Penney

Most recently he was group category director (kitchens) for Kingfisher, responsible for the strategic direction of the kitchen business across seven European countries. Having started his career as a supply chain analyst with B&Q, Penney arrives at Bathstore with 13 years of senior retail experience.

McGloughlin 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.”

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