On 11 May 1964, Sir
Terence Conran, a young furniture designer and restaurateur, opened the first Habitat store on Fulham Road, London. It aimed to modernise the British furniture industry offering contemporary design at affordable prices. The brand then grew rapidly by anticipating the tastes of the public. In 1973, the company opened its first French store in Paris, in the
Montparnasse district. For the next two decades, Habitat continued its expansion in Europe, opening stores in France, Spain and Germany. In the 1980s, Sir Terence Conran merged Habitat into the
Storehouse plc group, which included
British Home Stores,
Richard Shops,
Mothercare,
Heal's and a 50% share of
SavaCentre. In 1992, Habitat joined the
Ikano group. Founded by the Swedish businessman
Ingvar Kamprad, founder and owner of
IKEA, Ikano consisted of independent companies operating in different sectors. During this period, the Kamprad family recruited new talents, such as Vittorio Radice, and consolidated the Habitat brand on the furniture and interior markets. In 1998, Tom Dixon was also asappointed director of design. In September 2011, Habitat joined the
Cafom SA group (except the
United Kingdom subsidiary). Founded by
Hervé Giaoui in 1985, Cafom SA is an independent French retail group specialising in home improvements. The group was already present on the French market through its online retail site Vente-unique.com and with a dozen stores overseas as well. In 2011, French designer Pierre Favresse was appointed artistic director of the brand Habitat. In 2014, Habitat celebrates 50 years of existence, and uses big names to celebrate the event: Sir Terence Conran and Thierry Marx. On 19 March 2015, the former French Economy Minister,
Arnaud Montebourg, is appointed Vice President of Habitat for Innovation. Cafom SA sold Groupe Habitat to the industrialist Thierry Le Guénic in October 2020. However, the sale excluded the international intellectual property rights to the brand name "Habitat" (excluding the United Kingdom rights where it is owned by
Sainsbury's), which would be retained and exclusively licensed from Cafom SA with an option to buy the brand in three years time. ==Locations==