Clintons card shop to close more stores this month including in Greater Manchester

Clintons card shop is expected to shut down more of its stores this month after a string of closures last year — the second card brand casualty in Greater Manchester to fall victim to pressures of rising costs.

Bolton’s Market Street store is scheduled to close in March, though the exact date is unclear at this time. The card retailer will also be shutting its Whitehaven branch on March 19th — Mother’s Day — followed by its Cumbria unit, for good.

The future of the staff members based at the closing branches is uncertain as Clintons is yet to confirm the dates and whether it plans to shut any more of its shops in 2023. The greetings card chain permanently closed three of its shops last year including Market Harborough in January, Ayr on April 12th and Dorchester on December 29th.

The household brand was founded in 1968 but has struggled in recent years due in part to high business rates and a change in people’s shopping habits with people moving online as they can find cheaper bargains and for convenience.

The card retailer has also struggled to compete with rivals on the high street and online. Card Factory is its biggest high street rival, as well as online players Moonpig and Funky Pigeon. Speculation about the future of the chain arose in 2019 when it announced it urgently needed to close 66 of its stores to avoid collapse.

The firm resolved its woes by entering a ‘pre-pack administration’ back in December 2019, as its brand and its assets — its shops, staff and website — were sold to a new company called Esquire Retail Limited. But the move still involved hundreds of job losses and store closures.

At its peak before administration, the retailer had 2,500 staff working across 335 shops, but by January 2022, only 2,000 employees remained and 238 shops were operating. By the end of March 2023, the chain is expected to operate 233 stores.

But Clintons isn’t the only high street retailer struggling to keep a presence on the high street. Many retailers have been feeling the pinch since the pandemic and now the soaring costs of inflation as shoppers have had to cut back on their spending.

Nearly 15,000 jobs have been axed since the start of the year as dozens of retailers collapsed or were restructured.

Paperchase closed its flagship Manchester store as it fell into administration in 2021. However, it re-opened at a smaller unit taking over the old Thornton’s chocolatier space, within the Arndale Shopping Centre — so shoppers can still buy its fancy cards and gift wrap.

Boots in Salford Shopping Centre closed in February, Homesense in the Arndale has closed and Marks and Spencer on Deansgate in Bolton has shut up shop too. Argos has closed a number its its larger stand alone stores and hopes to open desks within Sainsbury’s, after it agreed on a deal with the supermarket chain.