A Plymouth-based UK variety retailer selling homewares, furniture, DIY, garden and craft items in large stores and online.
The Range is a UK retailer with over 140,000 products across 16 departments, including homewares, furniture, DIY, garden and art supplies. Customers can shop in one of its large stores, which the company says number over 200, or online with home delivery or click and collect. It also runs a marketplace for third-party sellers. Its in-store offers include partnerships such as Iceland at The Range, and a concession deal with Compass Group for cafes. In November 2025 it opened its first store-in-store concession, inside a Tesco in Yardley.
Chris Dawson founded it. He left school without qualifications and began as a market trader in Plymouth in 1966, then ran cash-and-carry stores in Exeter and Newton Abbot. In 1989 he opened Chris Dawson Superstores at Sugar Mill Retail Park in Plymouth, which became The Range in the early 1990s and spread across the South West. It grew nationally through the 2000s, partly by taking over sites and stock from retailers that had gone into administration. It was ranked 121st on a list of the UK's fastest-growing companies in 2009. In 2020 it faced criticism for staying open during the first COVID-19 lockdown, which it defended by saying it sold essential items.
The company describes its approach as good-quality products at competitive prices, bringing together what customers need for a home. We did not find a formal mission statement. It has also taken on other familiar names: it bought the Wilko brand in 2023, the Homebase brand and 49 stores from administrators in 2024 to 2025, and the Bathstore intellectual property in 2025. All 49 Homebase stores were converted to The Range by May 2025.
The head office is in Derriford, Plymouth, next to the flagship store, and is reported to employ over 300 people. Distribution centres are at Thorne near Doncaster (2012), Avonmouth in Bristol (2017) and Stowmarket in Suffolk (opened November 2024, reportedly creating 1,000 jobs). It also trades in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland since 2016. The company is owned by Norton Group Holdings, with Chris Dawson as chairman and Alex Simpkin as chief executive, and is described as part of the CDS family alongside Wilko, Homebase and Bathstore.
Roles include store colleagues and managers, buying and merchandising, warehouse and logistics, transport, e-commerce, marketing and head-office support. It is a good example of a family-led UK retailer that has grown into a large national business.
Website: www.therange.co.uk
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