[citation needed] His first physical retail store opened in 1989 at Sugar Mill Business Park on Billacombe Road, Plymouth, under the name Chris Dawson Superstores (C.D.S.).

[1] This trading style continues to be displayed on external signs exclusively at this debut store only,[3] as a nod to the heritage of the business.

[9] Chris Dawson was ranked fifth in Management Today's seventh annual survey of Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs.

In 2009, The Range was ranked 121st on The Sunday Times, PricewaterhouseCoopers Top Track, and 250 League Table of the United Kingdom's fastest growing companies.

Chris Dawson, the chain's billionaire owner has previously indicated he has European expansion plans, including 1,000 stores across Europe.

The Avonmouth distribution centre has an area of over 1,250,000 sq ft[27] and is the largest single footprint warehouse in the United Kingdom.

[28][29] In Spring 2024, The Range will open a brand new distribution centre in Stowmarket, Suffolk, just off the A14 trunk road, with 1,170,000 sq ft of space for goods.

The Range Head Office used to be in the Estover area of Plymouth, but in 2019 it was relocated to a new building named ‘Elsie Margaret House’.

Dawson has indicated a long-held ambition to commit The Range to a long-term future and its head office jobs to Plymouth, the city where he has lived most of his life.