Birthdays stores set to close as jobs are axed

Nearly 3,000 jobs are to be axed after the administrators of Clinton Cards announced plans to close 350 stores in the coming days.

All of the group's Birthdays stores, including branches in Cannock, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Merry Hill, and roughly 200 Clintons-branded stores will close after administrators said the business was "burdened with an untenable retail estate".

The move will see 2,800 full and part-time staff lose their jobs in a wave of store closures starting on Monday and continuing into June.

The ailing high street retailer, which has 784 stores and employs more than 8,000 staff in total, collapsed into administration last week after its biggest supplier American Greetings called in a £35 million debt.

Peter Saville, joint-administrator Zolfo Cooper, said: "Given the sheer size of the Clinton Cards retail estate and the overall performance, we were left with no alternative to today's difficult decision."

There have recently been reports that WHSmith and Card Factory are interested.