Exclusive: Homebase AXES £850,000 plans for new Aberdeen store

The plans were approved by the council last year, but bosses at the national firm have now confirmed they won't be moving forward.

By Ben Hendry

July 3 2023, 5:00 pm

The gym has been empty for some time. Image: Ben Hendry/DC Thomson

Homebase has officially scrapped expensive plans to turn an empty Aberdeen gym into a new store.

The DIY giant last year unveiled popular proposals to convert DW Fitness into a new branch.

DW Sports and Fitness closed when Covid struck in March 2020, and the company collapsed just a few months later.

Homebase bosses estimated the revamp, which would include a garden centre to the rear, would cost about £850,000.

The huge two-storey gym, with its own pool, has been empty for almost three years. Image: Ben Hendry/DC Thomson

Customers were elated, with many taking to social media to share their excitement when we revealed the plans.

Jessica Williams said “I’m so excited”, while Naomi Poyser added “perfect for us both wanting to decorate our flats” and Chris Carter exclaimed “Homebase is coming back!”

Aberdeen Homebase axed despite deal sealed last summer

The scheme was rubber-stamped by Aberdeen City Council after Edinburgh-based consultants John Handley Associates sent a letter on behalf of retail park owners Standard Life Assurance Ltd.

They said that a deal with Homebase had already been struck, pending the planning approval.

The Homebase plans at Aberdeen’s Beach Boulevard retail park have been axed. Image: Ben Hendry/DC Thomson

But not everyone was happy.

The approval came despite the owners of the Bon Accord Centre lamenting the plans – warning they would lure shoppers away from the city centre.

But almost a year on, there has been no activity at the Beach Boulevard unit just across from Asda.

Why has Homebase scrapped the plans?

And now papers lodged with the local authority confirm the £850,000 works are being dropped.

A spokeswoman for Homebase told us that, after “further consideration”, the firm decided the location “wasn’t quite right for them”.

The Beach Boulevard retail park is home to several big name brands. Image: Ben Hendry/DC Thomson

The closest Homebase to Aberdeen is in Inverurie, while the other seven Scottish branches are in the Central Belt.

The company left Aberdeen shoppers disappointed when it closed its Bridge of Don branch in August 2018.

The Homebase at Bridge of Don closed five years ago. Image: Chris Sumner/DC Thomson.

How is Homebase faring in cost of living crisis?

The retailer benefited from a boom in DIY trade during the pandemic, but it’s been an up and down period since then.

Bosses bemoaned a “tough winter and slow start to spring” with “customers spending cautiously” amid the cost of living crisis.

The shop would have opened across from Pets at Home. Image: Ben Hendry/DC Thomson

But they saw some signs for optimism in May, with a bumper weekend as temperatures soared across the UK.

According to the Retail Gazette, more than 22,000 barbecues were purchased, and sales in storage rose over 12% as shoppers spring cleaned their homes.