High Street stationery chain Paperchase has fallen into administration putting 820 jobs at risk.
It comes after the firm, which has 106 stores in the UK and Ireland, failed to strike a rescue deal.
Administrators Begbies Traynor said the shops would continue trading as normal for now and it would provide updates in due course.
It added that Paperchase would only continue accepting gift cards for another two weeks.
It is the second time since 2021 that the business has fallen into administration.
The company has had a challenging few years and more recently has been hit by rising costs and falling sales.
It also has stores in train stations, which have suffered from reduced footfall due to more people now working from home.
Several weeks ago, Paperchase said it had put itself up for sale and that a number of buyers were interested in the business.
But on Tuesday Begbies Traynor said in a statement: “Unfortunately, despite a comprehensive sales process, no viable offers were received for the company, or its business and assets.
However, there has been significant interest in the Paperchase brand and attendant intellectual property.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sky News reported that Tesco was on the brink of buying Paperchase’s brand name and other intellectual property, but not its shops. The grocer declined to comment.
Paperchase, which was founded in 1968, went through a form of insolvency proceedings four years ago to cut stores and reduce costs.
It was then bought out of administration in 2021 during the pandemic in a rescue deal which saw the loss of around 500 jobs.
But Paperchase was then sold again in August last year to a private investment firm led by the retail investor Steve Curtis.
Begbies said that it would continue to “monitor trading” in Paperchase’s stores and provide further updates on the business’s future soon.
