Habitat (retailer)

Habitat is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the British supermarket chain Sainsbury's, and serves as its main homewares brand, as well as for Argos.

Founded in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran, it began as its own retailer, and merged with a number of other retailers in the 1980s to create Storehouse plc, before the latter sold Habitat in 1992 to the Ikano Group, owned by the Kamprad family.

In December 2009, the Habitat chain was bought by Hilco, a restructuring specialist. On 24 June 2011, Habitat was put into liquidation and all but three Habitat stores were closed 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 Argos and Habitat, for £1.4 billion (about $1.85 billion).