TWO stores in Huddersfield – together employing 20 staff – have escaped the first wave of shop closures announced by administrators of collapsed retailer Clinton Cards.
Some 366 people will lose their jobs in the next few days with the closure of 44 stores out of some 350 lined up for the axe after administrators at Zolfo Cooper failed to find buyers for the business.
Twenty-five Birthdays-branded shops and 19 Clintons outlets will close before the end of this month. There will also be 66 redundancies at the company’s head office in Loughton, Essex.
Further store closures across the remaining Birthdays estate and certain Clintons stores are expected in the coming weeks, although Zolfo said there was no further information at this time.
In total, the business has 628 Clintons stores and 139 Birthdays outlets.
The Clintons chain includes stores at New Street and Kingsgate in Huddersfield.
