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Wiggle to close Homebase servicing concessions just a year after opening

Email to customers with “massive regret…due to circumstances outside of our control”

The cycling retailers Wiggle is set to close all of its concessions in Homebase stores this month - just over a year after opening the first one and detailing its plans to roll out more.

In an email sent to customers, the e-tailer said it was closing the Wiggle Workshops with “massive regret…due to circumstances outside of our control”.

The first to close will be in Milton Keynes and Cambridge, on Saturday October 3, while the St Albans store is expected to close on October 10.

Wiggle told Retail Week there were “no plans to reopen but we are working hard to fill the gap”.

The e-tailer had initially opened the physical stores to offer servicing, click and collect and customer returns.

In May, the firm said it was to open two workshop concessions in Homebase stores later this year.

Homebase itself is however closing one in four stores, citing a drop in DIY shopping and more online purchases.

Earlier this year, we reported how Wiggle was on its long-anticipated move from its base in Portsmouth to a new warehouse operation in Wolverhampton.

150 jobs were to be created in the Midlands as a result of the move to a 323,000 square foot unit at a logistics facility at Bilston near Wolverhampton, and the new space would allow the company to continue with its 15 to 20% year on year growth.

Wiggle’s operations director, Nicholas Pink, said: “By October we should be 100 per cent live and ready for Christmas.”

The new location – more than four times the size of a football pitch – is at Citadel Logistics Centre and as well as bringing its warehousing facilities together at one location will also help the business, now selling to more than 1 million customers in 70 countries worldwide, continue its growth.

Wiggle will keep its head office in Portsmouth, where in 1920 the company started life as Butlers bike shop. It went online in 1999 and by last year it was turning over £168 million.

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24 comments

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leemc | 8 years ago
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I use their shop in St Albans all the time. Just emailed them this evening asking why it suddenly wasn't a click and collect option for an order, now I know why.

If you live vaguely near one, you'd have known because when you checkout out online it's offered as a place you can get your order delivered for free. Really handy as you could try clothes on etc and immediately return anything you didn't like, or that didn't fit.

I hope (and expect) it will return soon, wherever they can get the retail space.

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ourdave | 8 years ago
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This is a shame. I am relatively local to the concession in St Albans and have used it a few times. While I was neither particularly impressed or unimpressed by a service they carried out I was very happy with the free next day click and collect service. The guys working there were always very friendly and helpful so I hope they are looked after by Wiggle.

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macrophotofly | 8 years ago
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You guys just don't know how lucky you are.... we don't get Haribo when we order to Japan from Wiggle  20

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jova54 | 8 years ago
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Not aware of the concessions and where they were but reading the piece in full it sounds like Wiggle have no option but to close them due to Homebase's closure plan.

I would imagine that Homebase will want to concentrate on their core business and maximise the space in the 75% of stores which will be left.

I used Wiggle's on-line service the other day and received by goods, including Haribo, within 48 hours. Good service as ever.

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pintoo | 8 years ago
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I'm another who had no idea they had concessions. And I shop on wiggle a lot.

Marketing was not out of their control. Not to put the boot in, but had I known, I might have made use of it.

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1961BikiE | 8 years ago
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Report seems to change tack halfway through. Do I take it they are now not moving to Wolverhampton? What has that to do with the Home base concessions closing? Seems like there's a chunk missing out of this report.

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ubercurmudgeon | 8 years ago
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Some of us have very nostalgic feelings for the old Wiggle outlets in Homebase stores. We used to go down there, on a Saturday morning, with our pocket money, and get some rawlplugs, emulsion paint, and a few Colnagos. Proper old bicycles, from the past, not like the bikes they have now, stupid modern bicycles made out of wires and plastic. But it couldn't last, the old Wiggle/Homebase team-up. It was like two cats in a bag, it couldn't last...

(I was 28 years old.)

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Toxmarz replied to ubercurmudgeon | 8 years ago
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Did you tie onions to your belts, , which was the style at the time

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Ziptie replied to ubercurmudgeon | 8 years ago
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ROFL!  24

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Nixster | 8 years ago
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I once slightly tongue in cheek said in feedback that they forgot the Haribo. Which was true of course. I got an apology by email the next day and extra Haribo in the post the day after that.

If there is a company doing mail order better I haven't encountered them.

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rgriffith7 replied to Nixster | 8 years ago
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Merlin has been great for me and I'm in the US. Excel Sports in the US is very good and Performance Bike is good but I've found has limited items.

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deadlyhifi replied to Nixster | 8 years ago
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Nixster wrote:

I once slightly tongue in cheek said in feedback that they forgot the Haribo. Which was true of course. I got an apology by email the next day and extra Haribo in the post the day after that.

Bizzare, because twice I ordered and very specifically stated that I do not want Haribo. The second time stating I'd never order from them again. I've never ordered from them again.

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VeloPeo replied to deadlyhifi | 8 years ago
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deadlyhifi wrote:
Nixster wrote:

I once slightly tongue in cheek said in feedback that they forgot the Haribo. Which was true of course. I got an apology by email the next day and extra Haribo in the post the day after that.

Bizzare, because twice I ordered and very specifically stated that I do not want Haribo. The second time stating I'd never order from them again. I've never ordered from them again.

Weirdo

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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only bad experience i have had with Wiggle recently was when they forgot the Haribo!

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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Perhaps Wiggle could open some concession stores in branches of Halfords instead?  36

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Rouboy | 8 years ago
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Only experience of wiggle I have had has been dreadful so I wouldn't have used a Wiggle Workshop just like I will never use the mail order. Not saying it's all bad just in my experience  1

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LarryDavidJr | 8 years ago
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they're news to me too ....

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Bmac74 | 8 years ago
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Didn't know either

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Yogic Cyclist | 8 years ago
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Hence the closure.....

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StraelGuy | 8 years ago
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Third

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DaveE128 | 8 years ago
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I didn't even know they existed...

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Canyon48 replied to DaveE128 | 8 years ago
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DaveE128 wrote:

I didn't even know they existed...

Second

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Chris replied to DaveE128 | 8 years ago
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DaveE128 wrote:

I didn't even know they existed...

What, Wiggle or Homebase?

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spacedyemeerkat replied to Chris | 8 years ago
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Chris wrote:
DaveE128 wrote:

I didn't even know they existed...

What, Wiggle or Homebase?

The concessions in Homebase (taking your post at face value).

As for Wiggle itself, I've always found their service to be excellent.

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