The Range Home and Leisure

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CDS Superstores

Type	Public
Founded	1988
Headquarters	Plymouth, UK
Key people	Chris Dawson (CEO)
Industry	Retail
Products	Home and garden furnishing
Employees	2,300 (2006)
Website	www.therange.co.uk

CDS Superstores International is the parent company of The Range Home and Leisure (often referred to as The Range), a chain of department stores in the United Kingdom.

Since opening the first ‘superstore’ at the Sugar Mill Business Park in Plymouth in 1988, the company has successfully expanded.

1 Chris Dawson
2 Stores
3 Expansion Project
4 Product Ranges
5 Advertising
6 External Links

[edit] Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson

A stereotype of the rags-to-riches entrepreneur, Chris Dawson started trading while still at school, which he left with no qualifications. Not yet well known outside his home town of Plymouth, Dawson is a legend in the south-west, where starting out as a market trader flogging kit from a suitcase, he has since amassed a personal fortune in excess of £100 million pounds through his rapidly expanding chain of superstores. The feat is all the more remarkable that he remains, at the age of 53, virtually illiterate. The business is making £140 million a year, from which Dawson makes 9%. This puts him at number 15 in MT's Top 100 Entrepreneurs in the UK this year.

[edit] Stores

Andover store front

Currently The Range have 27 operating stores comprising of:

Blackburn	Enfield	Norwich
Bolton	Exeter	Nottingham
Bristol	Gosport	Plymouth
Cardiff	Harlow	Rochdale
Cheltenham	Hull	Scunthorpe
Clacton	Ipswich	Southampton
Colchester	Kidderminster	Southport
Coventry	Leeds	Swansea
Doncaster	Newport	Wigan

[edit] Expansion Project

From the first store in Plymouth, the company spreads out to Exeter and Newport, until it now has 28 stores as far afield as Colchester, employing over 2,500 staff and covering 35,000-50,000 square feet each. With the grand opening of the Andover store on the 27th of October, and the planning of a Bournemouth and York store at the end of the year, The Range would have successfully completed its plan to increase the number of stores to 31 by the end of 2006.

[edit] Product Ranges

Offering 65,000 products through 16 departments, The Range concept is to offer ‘mid-price’ home and garden products, drawing together everything that could be needed for the stylish home at affordable prices. This product range is unique in the UK market at present and demands a large amount of retail space, good design and a comprehensive buying ability to ensure a consistent supply of interesting and often unique stock. The core element of the product range is the complementary nature of many of the products and the synergy that exists between the ranges. The idea is to draw customers to the different areas and become a one-stop shop for home and garden products.

[edit] Advertising

Promotional Pamphlet

The Range primarilly uses local radio stations to advertise their Stores. Such radio campaigns have proved to be very successful in promoting the Range and the sales of the advertised stock. Such promotions are aimed at clearing excess and season related stock, such as arts and crafts for the back to school frenzy, and discounted garden furniture for the end of the patio season.

A current and fresh advertisement employed by the chain is a promotional pamphlet, containing much information regarding the departments and stock for its accompanying store. a £5 voucher is also contained in the pamphlet.