THE FUTURE of Worcester’s Paperchase store appears in doubt after the company collapsed into administration.
While Tesco has now picked up the brand and rights to the stock sold in the stationary chain’s 106 stores, it had not brought the shops from administrators.
As a result, the future of the chain’s 820 staff nationwide including those who work on the High Street store is in doubt.
The collapse follows a challenging few years for Paperchase which has been hit recently by rising costs and falling sales.
Paperchase’s administrators, Begbies Traynor, said Paperchase’s stores would remain open for now and it would issue an update in due course.
Earlier it told customers they only had two weeks to redeem any gift cards.
Jan Marchant, managing director of home and clothing at Tesco, said: “Paperchase is a well-loved brand by so many, and we’re proud to bring it to Tesco stores across the UK.
“We have been building our plans to bring more brands and inspiration to the ranges we currently offer, and this will help us to take those plans further.”
Several weeks ago, Paperchase said it had put itself up for sale and that a number of buyers were interested in the business.
Paperchase, which was founded in 1968, went through a form of insolvency proceedings four years ago to cut stores and reduce costs.
It was then bought out of administration in 2021 during the pandemic in a rescue deal which saw the loss of around 500 jobs.
But Paperchase was then sold again in August last year to a private investment firm led by the retail investor Steve Curtis.
