Clinton shuts 136 Birthdays card shops, axeing 750 jobs

ABOUT 750 jobs will be lost at the card chain Birthdays with the closure of 136 stores, administrators said yesterday.

Birthdays, which employed 2,100 people and had 332 outlets, was placed into administration by its parent company Clinton Cards last month.

Clinton yesterday announced it had bought back 196 shops and administrators Zolfo Cooper said the remaining stores would all be closed.

Some of the 136 Birthdays stores closed last week and the rest are in the process of shutting, the administrator said.

Clinton Cards claimed its £3.5 million purchase of the other 196 outlets would secure 1,450 jobs and keep the Birthdays name on the high street.

The card firm said £3.25m from the deal price would be deducted from the amount owed to it by Birthdays.

Last month Clinton said it could no longer fund its subsidiary, as 50 per cent of all the brand's stores were loss-making after the deterioration in the economy added to Birthdays' already struggling business.

Clinton said it could not sustain supporting Birthdays' losses of about £7m a year.

It said there was "limited opportunity to improve on that performance in the foreseeable future".