Paperchase: Tesco buys stationery brand but not its shops

Tesco has bought the brand and intellectual property of High Street stationery chain Paperchase, hours after it fell into administration.

But the grocer has not acquired the chain’s 106 shops in the UK and Ireland, leaving the future of 820 staff in doubt.

Tesco will now sell the stationer’s goods in its stores across the UK.

It follows a challenging few years for Paperchase which has been hit recently by rising costs and falling sales.

The business also has stores in train stations, which have suffered from reduced footfall due to more people now working from home.

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.

But earlier on Tuesday it appointed administrators after receiving “no viable offers” for the company or its assets.

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.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, Tesco said more than 2,000 roles were set to go across its business as it announced more changes to the way it runs its shops.

The grocer plans to cut 1,750 team manager positions across hundreds of its larger stores, and introduce a new tier of shift leader roles to run its shop floor operations.

The 1,800 new posts will be lower paid, but team managers who take the jobs will have their pay protected for two years.

Tesco also plans a further 350 job cuts as it closes eight pharmacies, moves overnight roles to daytime in 12 stores, reduces hours within some post offices and closes back office positions.

The grocer is also closing all its remaining counters and hot delis due to a lack of demand, but all staff affected will be offered alternative roles.