Paperchase has been rescued but greetings card artists are losing thousands

theguardian.com:

When the artist Angela Chick began supplying greetings cards to Paperchase, she thought she’d made it. “As a small business owner, that’s kind of a dream,” the 36-year-old said.

The stationery retailer ordered thousands of cards adorned with her “colourful, cheerful”, hand-drawn designs, to be sold at its 125 UK stores and concessions in Selfridges, Next and House of Fraser.

But in late 2020, she says Paperchase stopped paying its invoices. Emails chasing payments went unanswered. Then, in January 2021, news broke that the company was going into administration, leaving Chick’s business more than £22,000 out of pocket.

Sixteen months on, she is yet to be paid – and the chance of her ever recouping more than a tiny percentage of the money is slim. But while she and other artists continue to struggle, Paperchase stores are trading and thriving, albeit with a new owner. Shortly after going into administration, the chain was bought by the credit arm of a private equity firm.

The controversial rescue deal enabled many stores to stay open and saved about 1,000 jobs, but it allowed the new owner in effect to shed millions of pounds in debts to suppliers, many of them small firms.

It also bought about £7m worth of old stock, according to documents filed with Companies House, and went on to sell products that suppliers had not been paid for. Within months, business was reported to be booming once again. “I’m really pleased to say that the sun has been shining on us and we’re currently trading above plan,” Paperchase’s head of brand told a trade publication last May.

For Chick, it has been “immensely stressful”. “I was going through this, and having people sending me photos of my cards still in their stores that were available for sale.