Clintons announces closure of Southend High Street store

There’s been another blow for the High Street as Clintons Cards announces it will be closing in January 2025.

The greeting card shop has been in Southend High Street for around 20 years. At its peak, the retailer had around 1,000 shops throughout the UK. Now it only has around 160 stores.

In May 2012 the company first entered administration and closed 350 branches, before being bought by an American company.

The company fell into administration again in 2019 and was then purchased by Esquire Retail.

Now in 2024, it was bought by a company called Pillarbox Designs, who also own the similarly sized greetings card retailer Cardzone.

Despite closing over 150 stores since 2019, Clintons has continued to face economic challenges.

The latest new owner of Clintons has said that the high street chain is in a “worse state than expected” and they are not expecting to return to profit until December 2025.