The parent company of Big 4 retailer Sainsbury‘s has confirmed its acquisition of Home Retail Group is now complete.

This means that as of today, J Sainsbury is one of the UK‘s biggest retail companies.

The news comes just over a month after Home Retail shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of the £1.4 billion acquisition by Sainsbury‘s.

With Home Retail‘s Argos and Habitat now part of J Sainsbury, the company has over 2000 stores in its network: 601 supermarkets, 773 convenience stores, 739 Argos stores (including concessions) and three Habitat stores – as well as online channels for food, clothing, financial services and general merchandise.

J Sainsbury has also grown to 195,000 staff members across the UK and Ireland.

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“We are delighted our acquisition of Home Retail Group is now complete,” chief executive Mike Coupe said.

“The combination of Sainsbury‘s and Home Retail Group creates one of the UK‘s largest food and non–food retailers.

“We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues and customers from Monday and our focus, as always, is on delivering excellent customer service.”

As part of the acquisition, John Rogers has been appointed chief executive of the new Sainsbury‘s Argos management team.

“The way people shop is changing – customers expect choice, convenience, flexibility, fast delivery and to shop whenever and wherever they want,” he said.

Earlier this week, Sainsbury‘s completed its changeover of its in-store pharmacies to LloydsPharmacy, which the latter bought from the grocery chain for £125 million.

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