High street card shop Clintons will be closing some of its sites over the next few weeks.
The retailer, which has been a key player on the UK's high street since 1968, will be closing its stores in Bolton and Whitehaven.
The store on King Street in Whitehaven will close on Sunday, March 19, which is also Mother's Day in the UK.
The Bolton Market Street stores are scheduled to close by the end of the month, however, the exact date of the closure has not been announced.
The reasons for the closures have not been confirmed by Clintons and the future of the staff who work in the affected stores is also uncertain.
The card retail has also not announced other store closures for the rest of this year.
Last year, Clintons permanently closed three of its shops in Dorchester, Ayr, and in Market Harborough.
Clinton's Dorchester branch closed on December 29, its Ayre site was closed in April, and the Market Harborough store shut its doors at the start of the year in January 2022.
Along with many other retail operations with a high street presence, recent times has seen Clintons face mounting cash flow pressures in the face of challenging high street trading conditions.
Back in 2019, the retailer announced it needed to urgently close 66 of its branches to avoid falling into administration.
However, the firm was saved by a company called Esquire Retail Limited by entering into a pre-pack administration deal in December of that year.
Although the company had been saved, it did have to lay off some staff and close some stores, at the time it had 2,500 staff and 334 stores.
In January 2022, the card retailer had 238 stores and around 2,000 employees.
According to Clinton's website, there are currently 225 stores across the UK and there was no confirmation of how many employees it had.
Even though Clinton's has not fully confirmed the reasons why the stores will close, the news is yet another blow to the declining British high street.
Other retailers have been feeling the pinch over the last few years and particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
With shoppers tightening their belts to combat the high inflation and the rising cost of living, more high street names are expected to announce closures over the next year.
Mirror Money has contacted Clintons for comment on this story.
