Agreed, since Clintons disappeared, Paperchase seems the be the best for normal cards. For more special occasions we use the Art shop by the clock tower where many of the cards are hand made.
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Companies That You Expect to Disappear Soon
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
I do have to confess to buying my little sister something from Card Factory some months ago, one of those moments when I saw it and just had to get it. Otherwise, I agree with you on Paperchase and Card Factory, I just can't believe I didn't go to Paperchase more often and regret discovering how good it was only in late 2022!
Don't worry Tesco have bought the brand name and IP so you will be able to get your Paperchase items from the non food bit of your local Tesco Extra.
https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2023/tesco-to-buy-the-paperchase-brand/
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Ashley Hill
Established Member
Has it? We still have a couple of branches in the west,don’t use them though. Card Factory does what I need in sending pointless cards to people I don’t like. Luckily we have an independent chain called Streamers which cater for my important cards.
Steddenm
Established Member
Clinton's are still trading - albeit they have gone bust twice. Their latest inCARDnation (sorry), changed their logo and forced the closure of the Birthdays store brand. Some stores were sold to Card Factory though.
Ashley Hill
Established Member
In Paignton Card Factory and Clinton’s are next door neighbours. One has queues the other doesn’t.
birchesgreen
Established Member
I always get my cards from Clintons, Card Factory is awful and usually full of terribly behaving children.
DelayRepay
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I think as the cost of living issues bite, expensive cards are an area where people can easily cut back. These days, I only buy 'nice' cards for my mum. The few other cards I buy come from Card Factory - after all they will end up in the recycling in a couple of weeks!
But I send far less cards than I used to, really only close family now. I receive far less cards too. We also used to send a lot of cards at work (from the team for special birthdays, new babies, retirements etc). These became 'virtual' cards during the pandemic and have remained 'virtual' due to people not being in the office as much.
I guess all of these changes have hit Paperchase, alongside rising costs to their business.
Interesting move by Tesco though, especially coming on the same day that they announced they're closing their remaining fresh food counters.
I've always resented buying cards because I used to know someone who ran a card shop and therefore know what the mark-up is!
But I send far less cards than I used to, really only close family now. I receive far less cards too. We also used to send a lot of cards at work (from the team for special birthdays, new babies, retirements etc). These became 'virtual' cards during the pandemic and have remained 'virtual' due to people not being in the office as much.
I guess all of these changes have hit Paperchase, alongside rising costs to their business.
Interesting move by Tesco though, especially coming on the same day that they announced they're closing their remaining fresh food counters.
I've always resented buying cards because I used to know someone who ran a card shop and therefore know what the mark-up is!
Thinking about it, some of the paperchase issues will be not related to cards. i know many peopel, mostly female, who would buy ring bound pads / notebooks and fancy pens etc from Paperchase to use in the office. Of course now they’re hardly in the office…
Dai Corner
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Presumably they make do with cheap and cheerful stationery now they work from home and there are no colleagues around to impress? Throughout my working life I only ever used employer-provided supplies. If anything, stationery left rather than entered the office.
ChrisC
Established Member
I’d never heard of Paperchase until it was in the news yesterday!
I have to agree about the terrible standard of the cards in Card Factory. I can never find any card that I would want to send someone in there. Last week I really tried to find a decent card for my sister in Card Factory and ended up paying an extortionate price for one in W H Smith instead. Sometimes you just want a nice card and Card Factory don’t have them.
I have to agree about the terrible standard of the cards in Card Factory. I can never find any card that I would want to send someone in there. Last week I really tried to find a decent card for my sister in Card Factory and ended up paying an extortionate price for one in W H Smith instead. Sometimes you just want a nice card and Card Factory don’t have them.
Cross City
Member
Simple solution is to just not buy cards. Massive waste of paper and money, and a phone call or visit to somebody is more more personal than a scribble on a bit of paper.
I think I've read that greetings cards have some of the highest mark up of any product on sale in the UK. They cost fractions of a penny to make but sell for a few quid in places like Clinton's.
I'm in my 30s now and have never bought a card and I always tell people not to but them for me.
I think I've read that greetings cards have some of the highest mark up of any product on sale in the UK. They cost fractions of a penny to make but sell for a few quid in places like Clinton's.
I'm in my 30s now and have never bought a card and I always tell people not to but them for me.
Dai Corner
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This is wny I buy the few that I send in Card Factory where the mark up is slightly less breathtaking. I try to put effort into what I write inside which I'm certain is more important to the recipient than how much I paid. I could have a grumble about the stamp costing more than the card, but that's for the Royal Mail thread.
To be fair, a lot of them probably never got sold and gradually get damaged as they remain on the shelf (or the floor) and binned. With many cards being time-sensitive, it's very much like handling fresh produce in terms of wastage.
But don't get me wrong, the profit margins seem excessive in places like Paperchase or John Lewis etc. The same can be said for wrapping paper and other gifts that are clearly there for those people who didn't plan ahead and are making a distress purchase.
Dai Corner
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I'm pretty sure the unsold Christmas, Easter and Mother's Day cards are put away and brought out again the following year.
Mcr Warrior
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That's as may be, but probably not so much demand for "Happy 50th Birthday, you were born in 1972" type cards in 2023, having, as they do, a more limited shelf life.
Anyhoo, suspect we are starting to drift off-topic now.
Some, sure, but I expect that's unopened boxes of cards in warehouses - not the cards on the shelves.
Birthday cards - it has only ever been close family members and that is down to two. Next generation show little interest (I had to remind some of their mother's birthday last year). A year or two ago an independent card shop was closing down, the owner reckoned that the younger generation were just not interested. I must admit, I am partly guilty, however. Former work colleagues get a self designed 'card' at Christmas e-mailed out mainly because I don't know where some of them live (the address will be in the bottom of a box somewhere in the loft, untouched since I moved).
Living in an area where it is pretty safe to assume most people are pensioners or counting the days until they are, I try to make sure I have half a dozen 'Sympathy' cards, having been caught out once and needed to resort to Smith's to get an acceptable one. I must admit, I never thought about Paperchase - it is not really the type of product I associate with their image.
This may just be me but the industry really irritated me a few years back when they started introducing new 'days'. As kids we always remembered our grandmother on Mother's Day so there was no need for Grandmother's Day. I note that last Thursday was 'National Spouses Day'. Doubtless card shops have been persuaded to purchase stacks of such things to counter the rush that never came - cards that will be unsaleable in a couple of years. I can remember seeing a big notice filling a card shop window with something desperate like, 'URGENT, HAVE YOU REMEMBERED THAT TOMORROW IS MAIDEN AUNT'S DAY, GET YOUR CARDS NOW' (may not have been Maiden Aunt but something equally obscure). This may go down well in the US, but not here.
Something else that I think has damaged card retailers is the tendency of more and more of us to buy charity Christmas cards, in my case from Charity shops. Also, in the case of the likes of Paperchase, the decline in personal letters. There is now only one person who writes to me on designed notepaper, while my response to the last will be typed simply because I can answer points made in the order that I think of the response, and rearrange them.
I suspect Paperchase and Clinton's won't be the last card/ stationery chains to experience financial difficulties.
Living in an area where it is pretty safe to assume most people are pensioners or counting the days until they are, I try to make sure I have half a dozen 'Sympathy' cards, having been caught out once and needed to resort to Smith's to get an acceptable one. I must admit, I never thought about Paperchase - it is not really the type of product I associate with their image.
This may just be me but the industry really irritated me a few years back when they started introducing new 'days'. As kids we always remembered our grandmother on Mother's Day so there was no need for Grandmother's Day. I note that last Thursday was 'National Spouses Day'. Doubtless card shops have been persuaded to purchase stacks of such things to counter the rush that never came - cards that will be unsaleable in a couple of years. I can remember seeing a big notice filling a card shop window with something desperate like, 'URGENT, HAVE YOU REMEMBERED THAT TOMORROW IS MAIDEN AUNT'S DAY, GET YOUR CARDS NOW' (may not have been Maiden Aunt but something equally obscure). This may go down well in the US, but not here.
Something else that I think has damaged card retailers is the tendency of more and more of us to buy charity Christmas cards, in my case from Charity shops. Also, in the case of the likes of Paperchase, the decline in personal letters. There is now only one person who writes to me on designed notepaper, while my response to the last will be typed simply because I can answer points made in the order that I think of the response, and rearrange them.
I suspect Paperchase and Clinton's won't be the last card/ stationery chains to experience financial difficulties.
birchesgreen
Established Member
My Nan always used to send valentines cards to her grand children (until they were adults). She used to send me a little heart shaped box of chocs too. So she bought multiple cards anyway, maybe there are still some sweet old grandmothers in this world?
PG
Established Member
Maybe you're meant to send Valentine's cards to anyone you half fancy
, hence 3 for 2 offer!
xotGD
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Salt Lake City branch?
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Tell me about it with cards, I have tried multiple times to make my lot listen to the fact I don't want cards, but I still get them. I have made it clear I don't approve of giving out cards, but it is still an expectation with them and a source of drama. That's nothing compared to trying to make them see sense and understand I couldn't give 3 figs about marking the day I was pushed out of a certain place! Oh the drama!
If I receive a card, it's pretty much torn up straight away and put in the recycling!
As for the thread itself, I was in the Arndale Centre in Manchester earlier and I was surprised just how many shops I'd never seen/heard of before were in there. I didn't go through the whole place, but I don't know how some of them are still going. Perhaps they make enough of the limited sales they do make, I have no idea.
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Somehow this has only just turned up in my notifications. Huzzah to that, I really didn't want to give Card Factory any more money!
dk1
Veteran Member
Last year I had some last minute family cards to get & although more expensive, WH Smith had some really lovely cards so I will look at them again in future. As others have said the scrum in Card Factory really puts me off.
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Paperchase was a shop I only visited very rarely. I prefer Scribbler out of the two.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I haven't got one in Hereford, and I have no idea where my nearest one would be. Their website appears not to have a store locator on it, so that's not helpful!
D6130
Established Member
I've just seen on my Google news feed that H & M fashion retailers are to close four more of their UK stores....on top of the ones that they closed last autumn. Apparently they are also closing a large number of stores across Europe. Could this be another company that's on the way out?
https://www.scribbler.com/find-a-store/ link seems to be hidden at the bottom of the page rather than having a handy link at the top.
Looks like the closest to Hereford is Brizzle