Another York shop goes – City store launches closing down sale

A shop on one of York’s top shopping streets is closing down.

Paperchase on Coney Street today displayed signs in the window with the words: “Store closing down. Everything must go”.

The stationery chain went into administration last week. It has been struggling for some time, and failed to secure a rescue sale.

Then on Tuesday Tesco agreed to buy the business’s brand but not its shops or workforce from the insolvency specialists.

It meant that that all 106 branches faced potential closure.

Administrators from Begbies Traynor said that they would keep the shops open for a short time, and that staff would stay in their jobs in the meantime.

They said nothing about what would happen to their jobs in the long term.

It came after the ailing firm failed to secure a buyer after being placed on the market by retail veteran owner Steve Curtis.

Begbies Traynor said it would continue to honour gift cards in the short-term but stressed it will “not be possible” to redeem these after two weeks.

Paperchase moved in to 6-10 Coney Street after the O’Neills clothing store closed down in 2009.

There is 20% off everything in the current sale.

Its closure adds to a growing number of empty shops at the northern end of Coney Street. The Warehouse shop next door has been vacant for some time – its parent company collapsed into administration in April 2020 shortly after the first of the pandemic lockdowns.

Across the road, a unit has lain empty since the closure of Office. What was the Jessops photography store is vacant, as is the unit on the corner of New Street.