AN American company is this week expected to snap up the remains of Clinton Cards, the high street chain that collapsed into administration last month. American Greetings will take possession of up to 400 Clinton stores. It is not expected to pay anything to the administrator for them.
One of Clinton’s biggest suppliers, with orders of about £10m a year, American Greetings put itself in pole position to buy the chain after it snapped up its £35m bank debt. This made it a preferential creditor and gave it a crucial seat at the table during the sale talks.
The deal will mark the end of an era for Don Lewin, who founded Clinton 44 years ago and named it after his son. The younger Lewin was chief executive until late last year when an outsider, Darcy Willson-Rymer, former boss of Starbucks UK, was drafted in.
The first Clinton Cards shop was in Epping, Essex. The company had grown to 767 shops and an 8,000-strong workforce by the time it filed for administration last month.
Zolfo Cooper, the turnaround firm handling the administration, has already announced the closure of 350 stores, which affected almost 3,000 full- and part-time staff. American Greetings is expected to take the majority of the business, and retain it as a separate retailer.