With the three month ‘transfer window’ of Paperchase’s CVA now complete, (when landlords had the opportunity to serve a termination of the leases on the shops), it looks like only 11 stores are to be closed. When the CVA was first mooted it was anticipated that between 35-50 stores would close.
This means, that on top of the initial five stores that closed at the outset of the CVA, that Paperchase will be losing 16 stores in total, resulting in the design-led multiple continuing to trade from around 130 stores in the UK.
Explaining Timothy Melgund, deputy chairman of Paperchase told PG Buzz: “With this initial three month period concluded successfully, the CVA is now in place for three years. I am thankful that so many landlords have taken a practical and understanding view meaning that there are far fewer closures than many anticipated. I am sad about all the closures, for the teams that worked in those shops and the customers who shopped there, but it could have been worse if landlords had not taken a pragmatic view.”
With the CVA only having been possible due to the unanimous support from suppliers, including many UK card publishers, Timothy said “We can’t thank our suppliers enough for bearing with us, and I happy that throughout this transitional period that we have been able to pay to terms and will continue to do so.”
Timothy is full of praise for the creativity in greeting card publishing and confirmed that its card sales are holding up well.
“We sell £50 million worth of cards every year. Our greeting card sales remain resilient and in some of our stores, notably those in railway stations, we are seeing significant increases in like-for-like sales,” he revealed to PG Buzz, attributing much of cards’ ongoing success to the creativity within the sector.
“Going round PG Live I was so impressed with how publishers are continuing to up their game – the quality and diversity of illustration especially was so impressive. Yes, we are living in anxious times, and we all could do with getting Brexit sorted, but card sales are holding strong and long may that continue.”
Top: Paperchase’s Glasgow store.
