Birthdays (retailer)

Birthdays is a British High Street greeting cards retailer. From its beginning in 1966, Ron Wood Greeting Cards operated as a wholesaler of greeting cards and gift wrap in Bury, Greater Manchester. In the mid 1970s three card shops were opened and soon the number had increased to thirty. In 1986 the Birthdays concept was launched, and the product range gradually diversified to include novelties, soft toys and ornaments. Birthdays has operated for over 40 years under various names, and is now one of the leading greetings card retailers in the UK with over 400 stores nationwide.

The chain's head office is incorporated with the Clinton Cards Head Office in Loughton, Essex

Acquisition

In 2002, Clinton Cards approached Birthdays with a buyout offer reportedly worth roughly £100 million. The two sides, however, were unable to reach an agreement. In September 2003, investors instead sold the company to Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter in partnership with Chris Gorman, owner of the Gadget Shop chain of retail novelty stores, for an estimated £60 million, and began making plans to cross-market Birthdays' and Gadget Shops' product ranges in each other's stores.

Hunter and Gorman soon discovered that Birthdays required a larger injection of capital investment than either was willing or able to provide. In November 2004, it was announced Birthdays had again been sold, this time to Clinton Cards whom had originally approached the company 2 years prior, for a total of just £50 million, to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Clinton Cards plc.

Administration

It was announced on 21st May 2009 on BBC Breakfast News that the company had gone into administration, though parent company Clinton Cards said all of the stores would remain open for the time being.

Just under two months later, Clinton Cards bought back 180 of the Birthdays stores, closing some. In Scotland, only 15 stores remain open.

See also

• Clinton Cards