STAFF at Fraserburgh 'Birthdays' store have spoken of their 'distress and disappointment' following the Broad Street Shop's closure last Friday.
The blow to the nine staff was made more bitter, because only a week earlier they had been told their outlet would not be closing.
However, a phone call on Tuesday, June 23, changed everything:
"We got a call on Wednesday, June 17, that we we
re one of the safe stores. We knew that 132 were closing, but we were not one of them.
"Then we got a call on the following Tuesday that something had happened and we were closing. We closed on Thursday to the public and spent Friday packing. All the stock is going to a warehouse, I think," Shop Manager Carolann West told the Herald.
Ms West said that the company had gone into administration on either 20 or 21 May:
"We were told just to trade as normal until they found a buyer and that was what we had been doing," she added.
She admitted that the staff were feeling raw after the announcement:
"It felt like a kick in the face.
"We had gone out to celebrate the week we got the good news that we were safe then we get the bad news. Staff were in tears," the Manager said.
'Birthdays' has been based in Broad Street for eight-and-a-half years:
"The staff are just gutted, especially to be told one thing one week then told another," she added.
Following the Administration of Birthdays Limited and Thorpalm Greeting Cards Limited, the Joint Administrators Peter Saville, Alastair Beveridge and Stuart Mackellar have confirmed that a sale of 196 stores to Birthdays Retail Limited had been completed for £3.5 million.
Peter Saville, Partner at Zolfo Cooper Europe, said:
"We are delighted to announce that the sale has been completed, which has preserved approximately 1,450 jobs and offered the best return to unsecured creditors from all the offers received. We would like to thank the employees for all their hard work and commitment during the Administration period and wish them all the best for the future as part of Birthdays Retail Limited.
"Securing the future of the business has meant that a number of very difficult decisions had to be made. Without being able to secure a buyer for the remaining stores it was not possible for them to continue trading, and this has regrettably led to the loss of a number of jobs from those stores that have closed."
