Three Shropshire greeting cards shops are set to close their doors this week after the company became the latest victim of the credit crunch.

The Card Warehouse store in Shrewsbury and two in Telford will shut to the public on Friday with the loss of about 13 jobs.

Hundreds of other jobs will be lost throughout the country after the company announced that 212 of its stores are to close.

But employees at the Card Warehouse in Oswestry have been spared the axe after a deal was struck with rival company Card Factory which has taken on 76 of the Card Warehouse stores nationwide.

There was more gloom on the economic front as figures from the Office for National Statistics showed output in the manufacturing sector slumped 2.9 per cent in November.

The fall was much worse than expected and represents the ninth consecutive month of decline and the worst run since 1980.

Those Card Warehouse stores which are closing will be stripped down to the bare bones with fixtures and fittings also for sale to members of the public until Monday.

The company went into administration in October. Shop workers’ union Usdaw said the closures were another blow following the demise of Woolworths branches across the country.

Sandra Dunfey, assistant manager at Card Warehouse in the Darwin Shopping Centre, Shrewsbury, said that she and three others at the store were devastated to be losing their jobs.

Wendy Blount, supervisor at the Card Warehouse in Telford town centre said about six jobs would be lost at the store with a further two or three at the outlet in Market Square, Wellington.