Cardzone welcomes Jeff Weiss onto the board
The Cardzone group has beefed up its board as well as strengthened its shareholder line-up as part of its futureproofing of the enlarged business, following the acquisition of Clintons’ 163 stores in March.
The Weiss family, the former owner of Clintons, now has a 10% shareholding in the Cardzone group and Jeff Weiss has been appointed to the board.
Paul Taylor, founder and managing director of Cardzone, said: “We are delighted to have the expertise of Jeff and the Weiss family now within our family business.”
Certainly, the Weiss family has a very strong greeting card heritage being descendants of Jacob Sapirstein, who founded UK Greetings’ parent company American Greetings in 1906.
When US investment company Clayton, Dubilier & Rice acquired the majority stake in American Greetings, including UKG, in February 2018, the Weiss family retained a 40% stake in the main business and kept hold of Clintons.
The retailer had been acquired by AG’s subsidiary Lakeshore Lending from the receiver in June 2012, and was not included in the deal so remained under the family’s ownership until it was sold to Pillarbox Designs, Cardzone’s parent company owned by the Taylor family including md Paul and his trading director son James, earlier this year.
PG bumped into Paul and Jeff at the recent London Stationery Show where the American said of his on his involvement with the Cardzone group: “Paul’s acquisition of Clintons is not just good news for the market and the industry as a whole, but also the greeting card consumer. I am very happy to be involved.”
Paul, James, Jeff and the team are currently working on the refinements of the strategy for the enlarged group, futureproofing it for the long term.
