Jobs saved as American firm buys Clinton Cards

Ohio-based American Greetings, which has been one of Clinton’s biggest suppliers, will take on the brands and assets of the retailer, which collapsed into administration a month ago.

Administrator Zolfo Cooper has already announced the closure of around 350 stores, costing the jobs of nearly 3,000 full and part-time staff.

American Greetings placed itself in pole position to buy the chain after it snapped up Yorkshire-based Clinton’s £35m bank debt, making it a preferential creditor and giving it a strong position in sale talks.

The United States company’s UK Greetings operation, which is based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, has the brands Camden Graphics, Hanson White, Forget Me Not and Xpressions and supplies outlets including major supermarkets.

The final number of stores acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords.

Its chief executive Zev Weiss said: “We are pleased to welcome these stores, the Clinton Cards brand, and the approximately 4,500 employees as members of the American Greetings family.

“We believe that properly managed, and with the appropriate capital structure, Clinton Cards can be both an important and profitable retailer in the speciality channel of distribution over the long term.”

Zolfo Cooper partner Peter Saville said there was a strong underlying business, with the company paying the price for “excessively ambitious” expansion plans and the impact of intense competition.

He said: “The significant number of credible expressions of interest we received for the business we have sold today, from both trade and financial buyers alike, is testament to this fact.”

Zolfo said it would now focus its efforts on the store portfolio identified for closure three weeks ago. The first 44 stores out of 350 lined up for closure shut at the end of last month.

The stores being sold made £212m in sales last year, out of a total of £360m across the two brands of Clinton Cards and Birthdays.

Clinton Cards, the UK’s largest specialist retailer of greetings cards, was founded by chairman Don Lewin in Epping, Essex, in 1968.

Its collapse served as another blow to the high street after recent high-profile casualties including video games retailer Game Group and fashion chain Peacocks.