Greetings retailer set to shut 38 stores in bid to avoid insolvency
Clintons looks set to close 38 of its 179 stores in a bid to prevent insolvency following a failed attempt to merge with Paperchase.
According to The Times, the card retailer owned by the Weiss family – also part-owners of UK Greetings’ parent company American Greetings – has brought in restructuring advisors to put in place a plan that, according to documents seen by the newspaper, will swap its debt for equity as the business faces “acute financial distress”.
While rival retailer Card Factory has reported a positive first half to its financial year with trading ahead of expectations, the Clintons news is a second blow to the UK High Street as budget retailer Wilko, which has a sizable greetings and stationery offer across its 400 stores, has also filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
Wilko’s advisor PwC is understood to be in talks with a rival discount retailer and two private equity firms although reports say any potential buyer will have to invest up to £70million to rescue the firm.
Despite closing 156 stores in 2019 and cutting costs following its second administration buy-out in seven years, Clintons has struggled to restore its finances and is understood to have explored a merger with Paperchase in December 2022 in order to “benefit from economies of scale”.
With Paperchase also facing insolvency at the time, talks apparently broke down in January and the greetings and stationery chain collapsed with the loss of 900 jobs and closure of all 100-plus stores, although the intellectual property and brand was bought by Tesco.
The Times states the restructuring plan which will see the closure of 20% of Clintons’ 179 remaining stores is set to be negotiated with creditors in the coming weeks, and has been devised to help the company “avoid insolvency and be rescued as a going concern”, according to the documents.
It also predicts that Clintons “will have no option but to commence formal insolvency proceedings” if it does not secure a deal, claiming the UK’s High Street retail sector has “been in decline” for a number of years.
Founded by Don Lewin in 1968 and named as Clinton Cards after his son, the business grew to be listed on the London Stock Exchange before it entered administration in 2012 leading to the closure of 350 stores. The remaining 397 outlets were bought by American Greetings, before 12 were sold to Card Factory, and a rebranding to Clintons with new store design and logo followed.
In 2018 the retailer was kept by the Weiss family, descendants of greetings pioneer and AG founder Jacob Sapirstein, when they sold 60% of AG – including UK Greetings – to investment firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
Just a year later Clintons went into administration again and was bought by Esquire Retail Limited, which is also owned by the Weiss family, in a fast-track insolvency process which saw 156 stores closed.
Eddie Shepard was appointed general manager in 2012 with Dominique Schurman as ceo, then took over the top job in 2017, and he is also ceo of Esquire Retail.
Dominique left the business to concentrate on her US business Schurman Retail Group, partially owned by AG, which itself closed all its retail stores and filed for bankruptcy in 2020. She now runs her lifestyle brand Niquea.d offering greeting cards, stationery and gifts.
