Home Folkestone News Article
Clintons in Folkestone due to close
13:56, 06 February 2020
updated: 14:02, 06 February 2020
A card shop is due to close, just a day after one of its busiest periods of the year.
Clintons in Folkestone will shut on Saturday, February 15 - 24 hours after Valentine's Day.
Closing down signs have already been placed in the window of the Sandgate Road shop.
Its departure from Folkestone follows the closure of the town's biggest shop, Debenhams, last month.
In recent years Next and Peacocks have also left the high street.
The chain, which sells cards, wrapping paper, balloons and gifts, revealed it was in trouble last year and had entered negotiations with landlords of over 200 of its branches.
Clintons has many stores across Kent, including branches in Gravesend, Bluewater, Westwood Cross, Canterbury, Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Rochester and Gillingham.
It is understood Folkestone's shop is the only one currently scheduled to close.
Ashford's branch shut in 2017.
In total Clintons has 332 outlets all over the UK, employing some 2,500 staff.
The business was family run and founded in 1968 by Don Lewin, with its first store opening in Epping, Essex.
Nearly three decades later the company had grown to 277 stores.
In 1994 Clinton Cards acquired 83 shops from Hallmark Cards and a year later acquired 112 shops from Carlton Cards.
In June 2012, its 397 stores were purchased by American Greetings based in the USA.
A full re-brand was put in place where Clintons replaced Clinton Cards to denote the fact it was a "destination for all of life’s special moments and occasions".
