Habitat (retailer)

Habitat [UK] Retail Ltd

Type	Limited company
Industry	Retailer
Founded	11 May 1964
Founders	Terence Conran and Philip Pollock
Headquarters	Milton Keynes, UK and Republic of Ireland
Number of locations	Three London Flagship, One Standalone, One mini-Habitat inside Argos and three mini-Habitat's inside Sainsbury's stores (March 2017)
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Clare Askem (Managing Director) Polly Dickens (Creative Director)
Products	Home accessories, furniture, upholstery
Owner	Sainsbury's
Parent	Sainsbury's Argos
Website	www.habitat.co.uk

Habitat Retail is a retailer of household furnishings in the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran, it merged with a number of other retailers in the 1980s to create Storehouse plc, before being sold to the Ikano Group, owned by the Kamprad family, in 1992. In December 2009 Habitat was bought by Hilco, a restructuring specialist. On 24 June 2011 all but three UK Habitat stores were put into administration in a deal to sell the indebted furniture chain, with the brand and the three London stores sold to Home Retail Group. In September 2016, UK retailer Sainsbury's bought Home Retail Group, including the Argos and Habitat brands, for £1.4 billion (about $1.85 billion).

Sir Terence Conran founded the company in London in 1964, opening his own store to market his Summa range of furniture. The first Habitat store was opened in Fulham Road in Chelsea by Conran, his then wife Caroline, Philip Pollock and the model Pagan Taylor. This store became the Habitat template, with its quarry tiled floor, whitewashed brick walls, white-painted wooden-slatted ceilings and spotlights creating a feeling of space and focusing attention on the product. Conran has said the main reason for the shop's initial success was that Habitat was one of the few places that sold cheap pasta storage jars just as the market for dried pasta took off in the UK.

The business expanded quickly in the UK throughout the 1960s and internationally with the first overseas store opening in 1973 in Paris. Habitat also published a catalogue that showed a range of products grouped together in pleasant surroundings.

In 1981, the company's shares were floated on the and in 1982 merged with Mothercare Group to form Habitat Mothercare Group PLC. The now-listed company bought the furniture retailer Heal's and the Richard Shops fashion chain in 1983. In 1986, the company merged with British Home Stores to form Storehouse plc.