Home Bargains has reached a “major milestone” at its automated distribution centre in St Helens as the variety store chain ramps up operations to pick and dispatch two million cases every week.

The Omega site, which is now servicing 200 UK stores, is intaking more than 25,000 pallets of stock each week.

The company said that this equates to over 50,000 cages of stock and upwards of 1,000 store deliveries every week.

More than 60 per cent of all cases picked have been handled in the fully automated areas of the warehouse.

Home Bargains said that the figures demonstrate it has made significant headway on its ambitious growth strategy.

Home Bargains currently has more than 600 stores in the UK and employs over 28,000 staff, with plans to grow to between 800 and 1,000 stores and 35,000 staff.

The retailer is continuing to ramp up operations at the Omega warehouse over the coming weeks before a short pause to focus on peak trade.

The ramp-up will resume in January 2026, with the distribution centre on track to serve 312 stores by the end of the month.

“The Omega distribution centre is a cornerstone of our strategy to deliver greater efficiency, resilience, and scalability in our supply chain," said Neil Kelson, head of logistics. "We’re proud to see it already making such a strong impact, and we look forward to building on this success as we expand towards Doncaster and beyond.”

Work is also progressing on the company's most recent major development, a new distribution centre in Doncaster, planned to open in Summer 2028.

The Doncaster site will add capacity for 300+ additional stores, which Home Bargains said would further support the company’s long-term expansion plans.

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