14th August 2019 - 15:51pm Homebase – which rescued Bathstore after it fell into administration earlier this year – has named Ian Penney, previously group category director for kitchens at Kingfisher, as the new director of Bathstore with 13 years of experience in senior retail management. In his new role, Penney will be responsible for all aspects of the Bathstore business including the concession roll-out into Homebase, the brand’s digital offering and Homebase’s bathroom category. “We are delighted to welcome Ian into Homebase as director of Bathstore,” said Homebase CEO Damian McGloughlin. “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.” Penney added: “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.” The group has also announced three new concession partners, namely furniture and floor company AHF Furniture; Derbyshire-based ceramics and homeware manufacturer Denby; and luxury bedding and bathroom brand Bedeck. “We have been working tirelessly over the past 12 months to rebuild our range and offer as part of our wide-ranging turnaround plan,” McGloughlin said. “Reintroducing complementary concessions is a key pillar of our strategy, and we're delighted to have three new partnerships.”
Homebase has appointed Kingfisher as Director of Bathstore and announced three new concession partnerships. Homebase, which bought the business following its collapse into administration in June , aims to roll out Bathstore as a concession in its stores. B&Q , who formerly worked for Penney and most recently was Group Category Director ( Kitchens ) for Kingfisher , will take direct management responsibly for all aspects of the Bathstore business.