retail cards ltd. trading name clintons formerly called clinton cards type subsidiary industry greeting card founded 1968 founder don lewin headquarters loughton essex england key people dominique schurman ceo parent american greetings 2012 present website www.clintoncards.co.uk clintons previously branded as clinton cards is a chain of stores in the uk founded in 1968 by don lewin 1 and known for selling greeting cards together with soft toys and related gift products . it was listed on the london stock exchange and was a constituent of the ftse fledgling index . on 9 may 2012 the company entered administration 2 and following the closure of 350 branches the company was bought by american greetings . clintons is managed by dominique schurman from american greetings subsidiary schurman retail group . 3 starting in july 2012 the company began the gradual introduction of a new store design and logo which removed the previous clinton cards branding replacing it with the new clintons name . 3 4 contents 1 history 1.1 administration ; american greetings subsidiary 2012 present 2 shop format 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit clinton cards shop in rugby clinton cards displaying the new logos in leeds clintons putney exchange london clinton cards was founded in 1968 when don lewin obe opened his first shop in epping essex . the business grew to 77 shops by 1988 and was then successfully floated on the london stock exchange . this enabled the company to increase its rate of growth and by the summer of 1994 the business comprised 277 shops . in october 1994 clintons acquired 83 shops from hallmark cards and in september 1995 acquired 112 shops from carlton cards . in october 1998 the entire share capital of gsg holdings limited was purchased adding a further 211 shops to the portfolio . these two important transactions and continuing organic growth were financed without recourse to shareholders . in 2004 the company purchased the birthdays chain of card and party shops for 46.4 million but placed the subsidiary into administration in 2009 subsequently buying back 140 of the 332 stores . 5 administration ; american greetings subsidiary 2012 present edit in may 2012 the company s main supplier american greetings bought 36 million of its debt from its main lending banks and immediately called in the debt for payment . 6 clinton cards was unable to make the payment and entered administration on 9 may with peter saville simon freakley and anne o keefe of zolfo cooper llp appointed as joint administrators of the company . a week later 350 branches were closed including all the birthdays branches and the remaining 397 stores were purchased in june 2012 by us based american greetings subsidiary lakeshore lending limited . 7 shop format edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message this section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience . please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information and removing excessive detail that may be against wikipedia s inclusion policy . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message clintons operates shops ranging in size from its typical 1 600 square feet 150 m2 shop to its largest shop situated in white rose centre leeds . the leeds shop contains 10 750 square feet 999 m2 of floor space over two floors and features a coffee shop with toilets and babychanging facilities disabled access and a lift between the ground and first floor . the size of the shop means that it can offer a large selection of greetings cards and gifts as well as wide aisles and the space required to allow a higher volume of customers to fill the store . this shop also has a seating area from which customers can view and order wedding stationery . see also edit me to you bears boofle references edit card shop folds 8 000 high street jobs at risk as clinton cards sinks into administration . the mirror . 10 may 2012 . retrieved 7 june 2012 . james thompson 29 april 2012 . clinton cards in turnaround struggle . the independent . retrieved 9 may 2012 . a b emma simpson 24 december 2012 . clinton cards has a new look but can its reinvention work . bbc news . retrieved 18 october 2013 . about us . clinton cards . retrieved 2 september 2012 . clinton cards set to buy back birthdays stores after collapse . the independent . 17 june 2009 . retrieved 7 june 2012 . rowley emma 7 june 2012 . american greetings deal saves 4 500 clinton cards jobs . the telegraph . retrieved 8 november 2015 . clinton cards sold to us firm american greetings . bbc news . 7 june 2012 . retrieved 7 june 2012 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title clintons & oldid 738793140 categories american greetingsretail companies of the united kingdomretail companies established in 19681968 establishments in the united kingdomcompanies that have entered administration in the united kingdomhidden categories articles needing additional references from august 2014all articles needing additional referenceswikipedia articles needing style editing from august 2014all articles needing style editing navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 11 september 2016 at 02 47 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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