'THANK YOU for your custom' is the message remaining in the bare window of a town centre store which is now an empty shell.
Birthdays in Nuneaton’s Market Place has shut up shop for good, forcing staff members to say goodbye to colleagues and customers.
As reported in the News, the high street store had been set to close as part of a closure programme constructed by Joint Administrators from Zolfo Cooper.
They were appointed over the chain last month, after the banks of Clinton Cards Plc, which owns Birthdays Retail Ltd, sold £35m of loans to supplier, American Greetings.
Despite efforts by the joint administrators to settle a last minute sale, a buyer was not found, and the decision was made to shut the Nuneaton store as well as 15 other Birthdays outlets.
The jobs were axed just one day after the positions of employees at Clinton Cards in Market Place were saved after a deal was struck.
It was one of 397 stores to be bought from the administrators by American greetings card firm Lakeshore Lending Limited, a deal which saved 4,500 jobs.
However on Friday, 27 other Clinton Cards stores around the UK ceased trading with immediate affect.
Speaking on Friday, a spokesperson for Zolfo Cooper said: "The 330 stores not included in the sale to Lakeshore Lending Limited remain under the control of Zolfo Cooper and the Joint Administrators can confirm that 43 of these stores will close today.
"The Joint Administrators will now focus their efforts on the store portfolio identified as part of the closure programme announced on 16 May 2012. As a part of this exercise, the Joint Administrators continue to welcome expressions of interest for this part of the estate, as a whole or in part."
It is believed that staff at the Nuneaton store were only told the closing date the day it took place, leaving little time to thank their loyal customers and prepare to be left jobless.
Instead a sign on the shop window reads, 'Thank you for your custom, your nearest store is in Hinckley.'
Staff at the Birthdays store in Castle Street, Hinckley, now have an anxious wait to see if Joint Administrators will find a buyer for it.
