We’ve been witnessing the ‘death of the highstreet’ in the UK for quite a while now. But over the past week it’s taken some particularly hard hits. As the internet laments the news of Wilko going under, another long-term lynchpin of UK high streets is facing crisis.
Clinton Cards (aka Clintons) is the latest chain to cut back significantly on its UK stores. The company is apparently taking measures to avoid going into insolvency after it failed to merge with fellow stationary store Paperchase (which was instead purchased by Tesco). A number of Clintons branches shut back in the spring and now even more will be closing their doors in order to stop the chain going bust. Here’s everything we know so far.
Which Clintons stores are closing down and when?
A fifth of the retailer’s stores are set to be affected – that’s 38 out of 179 branches. However, the specific sites closing down haven’t been revealed yet.
What has been said about the closures?
Documents accessed by the Times said: ‘It is common knowledge that the UK high street retail sector has been in decline for a number of years. Many retailers have entered into insolvency processes, or otherwise have had to greatly reduce the scales of their operations. The Clintons business has not been invulnerable to such economic conditions.
‘The plan company will soon no longer be able to fund its day-to-day operations nor discharge its debts and liabilities as and when they fall due … As such, the plan company is in a state of acute financial distress.’
Here’s the full list of UK high street stores closing in 2023.
Did you see that homeware store Wilko is closing several of its UK stores for good?
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