Homobase

Owain

Circumstances. Once in the south of England I *had* to buy a roll of coax from B & Q for three times what it would have cost at my normal suppliers, because the customer (it was a chain store) suddenly decided to add another 15 TV points. B & Q was almost next door, and it was 5pm. Needless to say I marked the cable up from the B & Q price by 33%.

Likewise I was forced to buy a pack of AAA batteries at the most ridiculous price from Morrisons because when I visited one of my more helpless friends in Leeds the batteries in his remote were flat.

And I once paid a small fortune for one recordable CD. I was in Limerick and I needed to post some data.

Bill

Job 100 yards from Homobase, nearest alternative 4 miles away, 4:45 pm.

In article ,

...

You're trading your time & convenience (which has a cost) against the inflated price of something you need right *now*. Might be galling, but sometimes you have no choice. Even then it can be a winner if you work out the cost of the hassle / inconvenience of getting a better price.

I use a lot of CR2032 button batteries in various items. Usually get them in boxes of 10 by by mail order. If I forget to do so, and have to buy a battery locally, there's no need to stick a GPS tracking device on my Zimmer frame to trace my route to the local shops. You can tell my route by the clouds of angry-looking steam emanating from the top of my head...even so, the need outweighs the cost.

J^n

So no different from buying milk from a corner shop to a supermarket?

I've just purchased some milk at a corners shop £1 for 4 pints.

Entirely different. Homobase have the same or greater purchasing power as TLC/Toolstation/Wilkinsons.

Tesco et al have much greater purchasing power than a corner shop.

Homobase work on huge margins to fleece the unwary.

true, but many "corner shops" are served by a purchasing group such as "Costcutter" or "Londis".

As do B&Q if you compare their prices with Toolstation. Or even sometimes Screwfix.

But you already knew this - so why buy from them?

Job and knock:-)

Aside: I wish you wouldn't call them that: it's very Old Skool, not clever, and not funny, and above all it's unworthy of TMH that [I thought] I know and love!

I agree with you about their "pricing structures": we've just had one open here, so have had leisure to wander round: classic "marketing and presentation" aimed at their (increasingly not in accurate) idea of the general public: livestock, to be herded into the buying pens.

John

I've been influenced by the scatter cushions, table lamps, cook ware, furniture etc that they sell in preference to things like sheets of plywood.

Fair comment :) J.

In article , Another John writes

You were right the first time, it is neither big nor clever, and unwelcome.

This is the 2010s. Straight men are allowed to buy scatter cushions you know.

Homebase selling plywood is a bit like Woolworths competing with Poundland.

Owain

In your opinion....

And on one or two occasions, chatting with the shopkeeper, I've been told he does his weekly grocery shop at a supermarket because it's cheaper than his wholesaler.

So why doesn't he buy his stock there too?