Greetings cards retailer Celebrations has made 1,400 staff redundant after its administrator was unable to find buyers for its 214 remaining stores.

It follows the sale of 74 Celebrations stores to Card Factory in December after Celebrations Holdings Group, which runs fascias including Card Warehouse and Cardfair, hit the buffers in November.

The news ends a torrid week for retail staff, with job losses including 1,200 redundancies at Marks & Spencer and nearly 200 at Zavvi. The future of 645 staff at Viyella also hang in the balance after the womenswear retailer fell into administration on Wednesday.

Joint administrators to Celebrations Holdings and Celebrations Group, Peter Saville, Simon Appell and Anne O’Keefe at Zolfo Cooper Europe, said that a wind-down of the stores has begun and all shops will cease to trade by the close of business on Sunday.

Zolfo Cooper Europe partner Saville said: "Unfortunately due to adverse market conditions we can confirm we have not been able to complete sales of the remaining stores. Therefore we have commenced a wind-down of Celebrations Holdings Limited and Celebrations Group Limited.

“All employees have been made aware of the situation and we are grateful for the understanding and support of staff, customers and suppliers throughout the administration process.”

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