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59-610: HHGL Limited , trading as Homebase , is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre trading in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, until it was sold to the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in January 2016. Wesfarmers' management was not a success, and in August 2018,

118-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with

177-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In

236-401: A Homebase takeover deal, with an insider revealing that a formal sale process was due to begin within the next few days. In August 2024, Hilco sold 10 Homebase locations to Sainsbury's for £130 million, to be converted into supermarkets. On 13 November 2024, it was reported that Hilco was preparing to place the business into administration , with the retailer collapsing into administration on

295-516: A businessperson writes a trade name on a contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from

354-567: A company registered in France , purchased Habitat's European businesses . In April 2016, Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4bn takeover by UK retailer Sainsbury's . The deal included the sale of brands Argos and Habitat. The acquisition completed on 2 September 2016. Before the acquisition Home Retail Group sold the Homebase business to the Australian company Wesfarmers and all Habitat branches within Homebase stores were subsequently closed. Habitat

413-527: A quarter of Homebase stores by 2019, and that it would increase the number of Argos and Habitat concessions within the stores. In April 2015, former Tesco executive Echo Lu succeeded Paul Loft as Managing Director. On 18 January 2016, it was announced that Australian retailer Wesfarmers, owners of Australia's leading hardware store Bunnings, would acquire Homebase for £340 million, subject to shareholder approval. The transfer of ownership to Wesfarmers took place on 27 February 2016 and afterwards Peter Davis

472-458: A registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name, is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of

531-454: Is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using a simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between

590-518: Is called a razón social . Habitat (retailer) Habitat (a trading name of Argos Limited ) is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group. Founded in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran , it merged with a number of other retailers in the 1980s to create Storehouse plc , before the latter sold Habitat to the Ikano Group, owned by

649-530: Is now closed with the Habitat sign removed from the building and the store empty. As of June 2023 Habitat has now closed all of its showrooms and moved to a solely online retail business. Habitat also has a transactional UK website, as well as offering a selection of Habitat products on the Argos website. In January 2009, Habitat began planning a fully transactional web site to enter the online shopping market. The site

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708-472: Is the main homewares and furnishings brand within the Sainsbury's group. It is part of the Sainsbury's Argos business which runs general merchandise and clothing operations including Habitat, Argos , Sainsbury's Home products and Tu clothing. Larger Sainsbury's supermarkets also have Habitat homewares available. In November 2020 Sainsbury's announced that it wanted to have 80% of homewares and furniture sold within

767-769: The Kamprad family, in 1992. In December 2009, Habitat was bought by Hilco , a restructuring specialist. On 24 June 2011, Habitat was put into liquidation and all but three UK Habitat stores were closed in a deal to sell the indebted furniture chain, with the brand and the three London stores sold to Home Retail Group . In September 2016, UK retailer Sainsbury's bought Home Retail Group, including Argos and Habitat, for £1.4 billion (about $ 1.85 billion). As of August 2024, all Habitat stores and showrooms are closed. Sir Terence Conran founded Habitat in London in 1964, opening his own store to market his Summa range of furniture. The first store

826-508: The Kamprad family, which owns Ikano, put the company up for sale, and it was sold to Hilco, a restructuring specialist, in December 2009 with the Kamprad family writing off the debts of the company and providing €50 million (£45 million) of working capital while Hilco paid about €15m. On 24 June 2011 Hilco, which had owned Habitat UK Ltd since December 2009, announced that it was putting

885-459: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use

944-568: The 1990s, it was receiving the vast majority of its stock into central warehouses, then delivering it to stores. Homebase still receives a few direct deliveries to its stores, from manufacturers and vendors. In May 2009, Homebase discontinued its own loyalty programme, the Spend & Save Card, and replaced it with the Nectar loyalty card scheme, the United Kingdom's largest retail loyalty card. The Spend & Save card had been used by Homebase since 1982, and

1003-682: The British Do It Yourself (DIY) market. The first store was in Croydon , opening on 3 March 1981, located on the Purley Way . Homebase tripled in size in January 1995, when Sainsbury's bought rival store group Texas Homecare from Ladbrokes . These stores were rebranded and converted to the Homebase format, beginning in February 1996, with the store in Longwell Green , Bristol . The transformation

1062-652: The CVA were planned to close by the beginning of 2019. Homebase secured a £95 million asset lending contract with Wells Fargo Capital Finance on 26 November 2018. On 24 December 2018, Hilco opened its first redesigned store nicknamed BoB (Best of Both) in Orpington. The store featured traditional Homebase "gondola" shelving alongside the Bunnings red racking, with a heavy focus on decorating, moving away from Wesfarmers' primary focus on tools. At that time Homebase had over 170 stores in

1121-563: The London stores and around 50 in head office, including many of Habitat's in-house designers, buyers and merchandisers. It then introduced 84 Mini Habitat stores within Homebase branches and also begun to offer a selection of Habitat products in 200 Homebase and Argos stores nationwide and on the Argos and Homebase websites. By June 2011, all other Habitat stores in the UK had been closed by Hilco with around 750 employees being made redundant. Cafom ,

1180-471: The Sainsbury's group under the Habitat brand by the end of 2021. In April 2016 Habitat unveiled a £1.5million refurbishment of its flagship 25,000 Tottenham Court Road store. Designed by the Habitat in-house Design Studio, the new store featured a completely new look and layout for the brand with a stripped back design and monochrome colour palette to highlight Habitat's bright product collections. The Habitat store on King's Road in London closed in 2018. This

1239-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,

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1298-591: The United Kingdom, with a further eleven in Ireland. In February 2020, it was announced that Homebase had returned to profit earlier than initially forecast, with nearly all of its 164 locations profitable. The company claims that its overhauled website, and the reintroduction of in-store concessions (many of which were removed by Wesfarmers) had helped it to achieve the reprise. Homebase confirmed that it would exit its CVA earlier than planned by April 2020. In November 2020, Hilco put Homebase up for sale. In 2021, Hugh Osmond

1357-523: The benefits of free labour through work experience, called Workfare . The offending poster depicted a number of volunteer staff at the Haringey branch and was captioned: "How the work experience programme can benefit your store. Would 750 hours with no payroll costs help YOUR store?" Homebase released contradictory statements, the first stating "The company is not signed up to the Workfare Programme" and

1416-399: The brand and 70 stores, to be converted into The Range locations, with plans for Homebase to continue trading as online-only. Administrators are seeking buyers for its 74 remaining stores across the UK and Ireland. Homebase was founded by the supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GB-Inno-BM in 1979, as Sainsbury's Homebase . The goal was to bring a supermarket style layout to

1475-552: The business was sold to restructuring firm Hilco for £1. Subsequently, Hilco announced that it would close 42 of the chain's stores, and cut 1,500 jobs through a company voluntary arrangement , in an attempt to return it to profitability. By February 2020, Homebase had 164 outlets, and was again profitable, with Hilco listing the retailer for sale in November 2020. In November 2024, Homebase collapsed into administration . Norton Group Holdings , owner of The Range and Wilko , acquired

1534-466: The company into administration. Home Retail Group (owner of Argos and Homebase ) purchased the Habitat brand, three central London stores in Tottenham Court Road, King's Road and Finchley Road and the UK website for £24.5 million. The UK business was registered under the name Habitat Retail Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Home Retail Group. Home Retail Group retained about 100 staff at

1593-484: The corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when

1652-522: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where

1711-734: The end of 2016 and were located in Nine Elms in London, London Colney (a former SavaCentre ) and Solihull . The in-store concession opened in 2017 in the Sainsbury's hypermarket in Calcot, Berkshire was actually a re-instalment, as that store sold Habitat products in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it was a SavaCentre (a 50:50 BHS -Sainsbury Joint Enterprise) hypermarket when both BHS and Habitat were part of Storehouse plc . Sainsbury's announced in 2020 that it would be permanently closing all 11 Habitat in-store concessions in its supermarkets with immediate effect, as its products would now be sold in

1770-448: The end of the year. The stores adopted a low-cost warehouse model. In February 2018, Wesfarmers reported losses relating to the takeover of £57 million in the year to June 2017, and stated that it would begin a review of the business. Wesfarmers sought buyers for the business in March, and by May, had received bids from restructuring firms Alteri Investors and Hilco . On 25 May 2018, it

1829-558: The furniture retailer Heal's and the Richard Shops fashion chain in 1983. In 1986, the company merged with British Home Stores to form Storehouse plc . The merger with British Home Stores also came with a 50% share of the SavaCentre hypermarket chain, a 50:50 Joint Enterprise with the supermarket chain Sainsbury's . In 1992 Habitat was purchased from Storehouse by Ikano . In October 2009, following several years of trading losses,

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1888-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business

1947-674: The main self-service non-food areas of Sainsbury's supermarkets instead. The company used to have stores in Galway and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland but these were closed down in 2008. Habitat previously employed 1,574 staff and operated in 71 stores: 35 in the UK, 26 in France , five in Spain and five in Germany (as of October 2009). The international operations are now run by Groupe Habitat , part of Cafom between 2011 and 2020, and since 2020 owned by

2006-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of

2065-407: The new slogan "Make a house a home." From 2005 to 2008, Homebase used the song " Love Machine " by Girls Aloud in their television adverts. From 2007 to 2008, " Orinoco Flow " by Enya was used. From 2009 to 2013, "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman was used. In April 2013, Homebase faced criticism over a poster in a London store. The poster appeared to highlight

2124-448: The purchase of 27 leasehold properties from Focus DIY , to be bought for £40 million in cash. The properties were transferred over the period up to 31 December 2007, and were then refitted to the Homebase fascia over the course of several months. No other infrastructure, and no merchandise stock were acquired as part of the transaction, although staff in these Focus stores transferred to Homebase. In July 2013, Home Retail Group said

2183-415: The race to acquire Homebase, but was not successful. On 22 December 2000, Sainsbury's sold the Homebase chain in a two-part deal worth £969 million: in March 2001, the sale of the chain of 283 stores to venture capitalist Schroder Ventures generated £750 million, and the sale of 28 development sites to Kingfisher plc , parent of Homebase rival B&Q , generated £219 million. At

2242-550: The remains of Lupton Morton. Ryman Conran did not highly value the Habitat chain and apparently thought it was making a loss, so agreed to the sale. Ryman Conran retained Habitat's original factory in Thetford along with Conran Design Group. In 1981, the company's shares were floated on the London Stock Exchange and in 1982 it merged with Mothercare Group to form Habitat Mothercare Group plc. The now-listed company bought

2301-507: The same day. Norton Group Holdings acquired the Homebase brand name, intellectual property, and 70 of the UK stores the same day, safeguarding about 1,500 jobs. The 70 stores will be rebranded under The Range name while the Homebase brand and products will still trade online. The remaining 49 stores and the business in the Republic of Ireland were not part of the deal. The Range's garden centres will be rebranded as "Garden Centre by Homebase". It

2360-482: The second quarter of 2017, as Wesfarmers sought to remove all concessions and adopt the same business model as its Australian and New Zealand business. Bunnings confirmed in November 2016 that the Homebase store in St Albans would be the first to be re-branded as Bunnings Warehouse as part of a trial, and opened in February 2017. An additional three were planned to be opened by June 2017, with up to six more completed by

2419-457: The second that "we have decided to make no further commitment to the Job Centre work experience programme". Protest groups called Homebase's scheme a "profit driven attack" on workers and benefit claimants, adding "We hope Homebase will soon join, Wilko , Superdrug and more than twenty other companies who have ended their involvement with workfare. However we are prepared for further protests in

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2478-575: The stationery retailer Ryman to form Ryman Conran. The following year it purchased the business of Lupton Morton, which mostly supplied furniture to offices and corporations but also made pieces by other designers, and in 1970 acquired the retail chain Straker-Bedser. By 1970 the turnover of the group had doubled since the merger with Habitat. Terence Conran however was disappointed that Habitat itself had not been expanded and offered to purchase Habitat from Ryman Conran along with Conran Associates and

2537-572: The stores in Ireland had not made a profit in the previous five years, and that it intended to close three of the fifteen. In May 2014, Homebase launched the Homebase Design Centres . The new look stores had a Decorating Ideas and Advice Centre , offering touch screen technology, to help customers transform the look of rooms in their homes. Following a review of the business, Home Retail Group announced in October 2014 that it would close around

2596-454: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who

2655-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file

2714-521: The time, the chain had 13% of the market in the United Kingdom, with 283 stores and 17,000 employees, behind B&Q and Focus Do It All . In November 2002, Homebase was sold again, this time to GUS plc (formerly Great Universal Stores plc) for £900 million, where it became part of Argos Retail Group (ARG). In October 2006, GUS split to form Experian and ARG. ARG was renamed Home Retail Group, within which Homebase operated until 27 February 2016. In October 2007, Home Retail Group agreed

2773-554: The weeks and months ahead should they fail to do so." Trade name In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a ) is used to designate a trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as "

2832-465: Was announced that Homebase had been sold by Wesfarmers to turnaround specialists Hilco, for a nominal one pound sterling. Hilco took ownership of the business on 12 June 2018. All 24 stores converted to the Bunnings format were rebranded back to Homebase. At the end of August 2018, a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposed by Hilco to close 42 stores, and reduce rent on others, was approved by Homebase's creditors. The stores identified for closure in

2891-558: Was appointed Managing Director, succeeding Echo Lu. Wesfarmers announced in June 2016 that it had cancelled the plans by Home Retail Group to close seven stores, and would seek to prevent the closure of eleven others. It described the closure of five additional stores as "unavoidable". It was also announced that Archie Norman was to advise on the turnaround of Homebase under Wesfarmers. Laura Ashley plc confirmed in October 2016 that it would remove its concessions trading in 22 Homebase stores by

2950-584: Was because the building it had occupied since 1973 is being redeveloped under plans submitted by the landowner Cadogan Estates and approved by the Kensington & Chelsea Council . In 2018, the business opened two new standalone stores - one in Westfield White City as part of the extension of the shopping centre which was planned to attract more homeware and lifestyle brands and the other in Brighton ; this

3009-491: Was believed to be one of the first store loyalty cards in the world. Following the sale to Wesfarmers, Homebase left the Nectar scheme on 31 December 2016. From 1999 to 2005, Homebase used former Men Behaving Badly couple Neil Morrissey and Leslie Ash as a couple. Morrissey and Ash were the face of the brand for six years, until March 2005, when Homebase launched a series of new advertisements created by AMV BBDO , featuring

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3068-489: Was completed by 1999. By the time of the purchase, Texas had staff totalling 11,600, and Homebase had 4,500. In October 1999, Sainsbury's bought Hampden Group, the franchisee of ten Homebase stores in Ireland. In August 2000, the former chief executive of Texas Homecare, Ron Trenter, made an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Homebase. In September 2000, Focus Do It All considered acquiring Homebase, but instead decided to acquire Great Mills . The next month, Home Depot joined

3127-545: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In

3186-510: Was launched in November 2009, based on an E-commerce application from BT Expedite , with a back-end by LShift, after a period when only a small number of products were available online. Following feedback, the company announced a new website in January 2011, offering online delivery to UK, Germany and Republic of Ireland. There were 11 smaller Mini Habitat format branches located in Sainsbury's stores measuring between 1,400 sq ft and 2,000 sq ft between 2016 and 2020. The first three were opened at

3245-562: Was one of the few places that sold cheap pasta storage jars just as the market for dried pasta took off in the UK. The business expanded quickly in the UK throughout the 1960s, with the first store outside London opening in Manchester and internationally with the first overseas store opening in 1973 in Paris . Habitat also published a catalogue that showed a range of products grouped together in pleasant surroundings. In 1968 Habitat merged with

3304-516: Was opened in Fulham Road in Chelsea by Conran, his then wife Caroline, Philip Pollock and the model Pagan Taylor. This store became the Habitat template, with its quarry tiled floor, whitewashed brick walls, white-painted wooden-slatted ceilings and spotlights creating a feeling of space and focusing attention on the product. Conran has said the main reason for the shop's initial success was that Habitat

3363-673: Was reported that administrators had set a deadline of 29 November 2024 to sell the remaining 74 stores to other chains, with a reported 2,000 jobs at risk. On 28 November 2024, it was revealed that Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher plc (owner of B&Q and Screwfix ) were interested in buying some of the remaining stores. The company moved its headquarters within Milton Keynes in December 2016, from premises previously shared with former sister company Argos. Early in its history, Homebase used its Sainsbury's experience to move into using central warehouses from which to deliver its stock. By

3422-410: Was the location of one of Habitat's most successful Homebase concessions. Sainsbury's announced in November 2020 that both the Habitat standalone stores in Tottenham Court Road (25,000 sq ft) and Finchley Road (18,000 sq ft) would close at the beginning of 2021, saying that it wanted to concentrate on selling Habitat products in its supermarkets and online. As of July 2021 the Tottenham Court Road store

3481-536: Was understood to have been assembling a takeover bid for Homebase for £300 million. In February 2024, Hilco put Homebase up for sale for the second time within four years. In the same month, it was reported that Homebase had made heavy losses in the previous year, with Hilco continuing to look for a buyer, and that B&M European Value Retail and Norton Group Holdings (owner of The Range and Wilko ) had been approached regarding takeover deals. In July 2024, it emerged that Norton had approached Hilco Capital regarding

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