Inside first new-look The Range store with Homebase garden centre and amazing paint feature shoppers will love

NEW pictures reveal the stunning interior of one new-look The Range store featuring a Homebase garden centre.

Shoppers rushed inside the 21,500 square feet branch in Christchurch, Bournemouth, this morning after it opened at 9am.

A balloon archway funnelled them onto the shop floor where they could pick up homeware, DIY items and garden tools.

Meanwhile, shoppers dashed to the Homebase garden centre inside, featuring rows and rows of flowers and plants.

Others perused the click and collect area where online orders can be picked up and taken away.

Local councillor Paul Alan Hilliard was on hand at the start of the day to cut the ribbon on the new branch and welcome customers in.

The Bournemouth store is one of a number opening across the UK across the next few months.

The Homebase name was set to disappear from the high street and retail parks for good after the chain fell into administration last November.

But CDS Superstores stepped in rescue up to 70 stores through a pre-pack administration deal.

It is rebranding and reopening the sites under The Range name, with an array of Wilko, Homebase and The Range products on sale.

Some of the stores will also feature Homebase-themed garden centres, while others, not including the Bournemouth branch, will have Dulux paint mixing machines and colour walls inside.

CDS said it is hoping to open three of the hybrid stores each week, with the opening dates for nine already having been revealed.

CDS is yet to confirm the full list of former Homebase stores it is rebranding.

However, it is understood the retailer wants to open 50 of them by the end of April, with potentially more opening after this.

This includes three opening today in Bournemouth, Glasgow and Birmingham.

Three more in Newton Abbot, Felixstowe and Blyth are opening on January 24 while stores in Leicester, Stroud and Blandford are expected to open on January 31.

While CDS has said it will take on up to 70 former Homebase branches, it still means around 74 are at risk of closure unless a buyer steps in.

A deadline was set of November 29 for potential buyers to acquire the 74 sites but it's still unclear whether any of them have been saved.

Homebase previously confirmed six sites would closed before the end of 2024, including Sutton Coldfield, Bromsgrove, Cromer, Fareham, Newark and Rugby.

Two others in Wales recently launched closing down sales.

Three more Homebase sites in Derry, Inverurie, and Omagh are also set to close in the coming months, along with a branch in Glenrothes near Fife.

DIY chain rival B&Q has also stepped in to buy eight former Homebase stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI).

Five are based in the UK while the other three are based in the ROI.

What is happening to the Homebase stores not at risk?

The CDS buyout saved approximately 1,600 jobs and up to 70 sites.

Once they are transferred to CDS they will "quickly" re-open as The Range superstores.

CDS Superstores also previously acquired the Wilko name and intellectual property after the latter collapsed into administration last year.

Homebase's collapse comes after Hilco Capital, which owns the retailer, put the company up for sale in July last year.

Last August, supermarket giant Sainsbury's agreed to buy 10 Homebase stores.

Once all stores are closed, Sainsbury's will convert the units into new supermarkets.

The acquisition of the stores and refit programme to follow is expected to cost Sainsbury's £130million.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.