Clinton Cards in Chatham is among the branches already closed

by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Another greetings card shop is to close in Kent.

Administrators to Clinton Cards Plc, and its Birthdays subsidiary, which collapsed in May, have been unable to find a buyer for 76 stores nationwide.

In Kent, the outlet in High Street, Whitstable will close by the end of the month.

In June, 397 stores were sold to Lakshore Lending, a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, a move that saved 4,500 jobs.

But 76 shops not included in the sale remained under the control of joint administrators at Zolfo Cooper.

They blamed "deteriorating market conditions" for the absence of interest in any of these shops.

Peter Saville, a partner at Zolfo Cooper, said: "It is with regret that we have had to take the decision to close the remaining stores. We are nonetheless pleased that in an extremely challenging retail environment we were able to effect the sale of almost 400 stores thus preserving something in the region of 4,500 jobs."

Kent branches of Clinton Cards that were saved are in Ashford, Sittingbourne (The Forum), Bluewater (two stores) Canterbury (Gravel Walk), Folkestone (Sandgate Centre), Gravesend (St George’s Centre), Sevenoaks, Dover, Maidstone (two stores), Tenterden, Thanet (The Fort), Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. Two Birthdays stores – in Chatham and Hempstead Valley – were also saved.

Store closures included two in Dartford, Faversham, Hempstead Valley, Ashford, Chatham, and Ramsgate.

At its height, Clinton Cards was the UK’s largest specialist retailer of greetings cards and related products, with 750 stores and sales of £360m.