18-19_Cardsharp.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2024 14:22 Page 2
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A Titan Of His Time The sad death of Don Lewin, the founder of Clinton Cards, at the age of 91, represents an end of an era. Cardsharp looks back at the remarkable life and legacy of ‘The Don, The Godfather’, of greeting card high street retailing and his significant contribution to the UK greeting card industry. Born to poverty in Stepney in East London, the son of a chimney sweep, Don left school at 14, imbued with tunnel vision, drive and a phenomenal work ethic. After completing his National Service, he undertook a succession of jobs, before hitting on the potential of greeting cards at the age of 26 when he became a freelance greeting card salesman selling them from the back of his car. Then, nine years later, in 1968 Don opened his first card store in Epping, Essex, naming it Clinton Cards, after his then young son. Through sheer drive, determination, hard work as well as an understanding of the importance of premium store position, by 1988 he had built up a chain of 87 Clinton Cards shops. It was then that Don made the move that took him and Clinton Cards into the big league. He floated half of the family’s shares in the business on the stock exchange with the card retailing business becoming a PLC, a move which grossed him £20 million. This shone the light on Don’s 18 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
opportunist skills, as well as being a great trader and retailer. Converting Clinton Cards to a plc gave him the ability to fund further expansion, but at the same time he kept enough shares to ensure his family had ultimate control. He saw that the big US greeting card publishers had inherited big retail chains that they did not have the retail expertise to run and which were also damaging their respective core wholesale businesses. Don could see more opportunity. As long as he could offer Hallmark and American Greetings cast iron distribution deals, he could take over
Above: Don Lewin (right) in his first Clinton Cards shop. Below: At its height, Clinton Cards was a household name, a generic for all things greeting cards.
these chains and as a natural retail trader make them work as Clinton Cards stores. He was aided by the fact that the 1990s was the period of huge growth in the popularity of quality greeting cards and by a buoyant pre-internet retail economy. Don and his property team would snap up all the best positions in the high street and the shopping malls. It became an open secret among landlords in those heady days that Clinton Cards would pay a premium price to obtain the best positions. As well as popularising the specialist high street card shop and maintaining the greeting card industry’s enviable margins, one of Don’s other great achievements was expanding Spring Seasons as card sending events. Clintons was the first retailer to have huge displays, sometimes 40’, for Valentine’s and Mother’s Day alone as well as backing niche occasions, such as Secretaries’ Day, Nurses’ Day and Teachers’ Day. In those days, Don would not countenance any competition and he would purchase any new emerging specialist chains before they became a real threat, which further accelerated the PLC’s growth. In the early noughties, Clintons’ star was probably at its highest. Clintons’ window