Great Mills was a large DIY chain, consisting of around 98 stores across the United Kingdom. In December 2000 for £285m, the business was bought by Focus DIY, which in turn entered administration in May 2011, with all stores closing by July 2011. Most Focus DIY stores have been bought, some by B&Q, Wickes and B&M Bargains. However, some stores, such as Rogerstone. At its height, Great Mills had approximately 3,500 employees, ninety stores nationwide, and 20,000 products in range.
History
Originally known as Clapton Building Supplies, the store was opened in 1972 by Tony Blackburn, an unwell Dulux Dog and a staff of four. The store managed a modest turnover of £50,000, but within six months, the turnover had doubled. In the early 1990s, Great Mills launched Bay6. These stores were identical in size, look and layout to Wickes. In 1995, Wickes bought the six Bay6 stores from Great Mills' parent company, RMC. Four were already trading, and two were under construction. An important step forward for the company came in 1992, with the introduction of a central distribution method of delivering products to its stores. This saved many motorway miles as deliveries were co ordinated, rather than having hundreds of suppliers delivering to the same store each day. By 2000, over 70% of the product range was delivered by the Great Mills fleet, two or three times a week. In 1994, four of the worst performing Great Mills stores were rebranded into the chain No Frills DIY. These stores were St. Austell, Salisbury, and Northallerton. Other than external signage saying "No Frills", the interior of the stores followed no corporate planning as the concept was to sell anything and everything in an attempt to make the previous loss making store profitable again. Only St. Austell got close to being in profit, before the entire chain was shutdown with the sale of Great Mills. Whilst none of the stores got into profit before closure, all four did significantly reduce the losses over their previous incarnations as Great Mills. In July 1997, to further reduce distribution costs, a new Central Distribution Centre was opened. The purpose built development was fully automated, and operated computer systems to monitor stock control, and to make sure deliveries were made on time to stores. In May 1998, Great Mills appointed Jill Keen from Asda to be the new marketing director. She took over from Peter Bastin.
Sale to Focus
In March 2000, RMC Group considered selling Great Mills, as Peter Young, chief executive, said the business "is not a core part of what we do". In July 2000, Focus Do It All emerged as the most likely buyer for Great Mills, as the chain was put up for sale. In December 2000, Focus bought out Great Mills. The stores were all externally rebranded, though some kept parts of the interior branding of Great Mills. Focus intended to acquire Homebase, but decided to acquire Great Mills. In May 2011, Focus DIY entered administration. Some of the Focus branded former Great Mills stores were sold, while others were left empty. The original flagship Great Mills store in Paulton stood empty since the closure until June 2015, when work began to transform it to Wickes. Offices opposite the original store served as the headquarters for the Great Mills company, but stood largely empty after the Focus acquisition. The former offices were mainly used as storage for Focus DIY equipment, and also as a call centre for the same company. The office building is now part of the Somer Valley Enterprise Park. In January 2015, Great Mills, Paulton, was purchased by Wickes, which was owned by Focus DIY, from September 2000 until December 2004, being sold to Travis Perkins. The sale was completed in February 2005. In November 2017, the Great Mills brand was purchased, and relaunched as an online retail store.
