Clintons close two Shrewsbury shops

Clinton Cards today closed two Shropshire stores as it laid off another 400 shop staff across the country.

The collapsed chain's stores in the Darwin and Pride Hill centres in Shrewsbury have both closed as part of the latest cuts announced by adminstrators Zolfo Cooper.

The group, the UK's biggest specialist cards retailer, fell into administration last month, although 397 of its stores were sold to Ohio-based American Greetings yesterday, saving 4,500 jobs.

Administrators at Zolfo Cooper today closed 43 of the 330 stores not included in the deal, leading to 408 redundancies. Clinton's shop in Wrexham also closed as part of the cuts.

They have already closed 44 sites last month but are looking for buyers for the remaining stores in a bid to save nearly 3,000 full and part-time jobs.

The ailing high street retailer, which operated the Clintons and Birthdays brands, had nearly 800 stores and employed more than 8,000 staff in total.