Books and stationery chain WHSmith has bought the Past Times brand for an undisclosed sum. Past Times, which specialises in nostalgic gifts and vintage-inspired merchandise, fell into administration last year and saw its website and assets acquired by PT Bidco for £1.8 million. By March 2013, PT Bidco had also fallen into administration and the Past Times assets were snapped up by WHSmith.
Following the acquisition, the Past Times website has been taken offline and a statement on its Twitter page, posted 12th April, reads “The Past Times website is no longer trading. All
orders not yet despatched have been cancelled and customers have not been charged.”
In a statement, WHSmith says it intends to use Past Times in a similar way to the Gadgetshop brand, which it acquired in 2010.
In more acquisition news, gifts cataloguer/etailer The Present Finder has also been shopping, acquiring the assets of gifts website Needapresent.com from the liquidators. Mark Ashley
Miller, director of The Present Finder says he was most interested in acquiring Needapresent’s customer list and comparing it to his own. His first priority, therefore, is cleaning and deduping the file and running RFM analysis on the names.
Ashley Miller adds that he has no plans to resurrect the brand, and is diverting online traffic from Needapresent.com to The Present Finder. He has, however, contacted the Needapresent database to inform customers of the change of ownership and sent introductory offers and The Present Finder catalogues to new contacts. At its height, Needapresent had an annual turnover of approximately £437,000. The Present Finder currently has annual sales of £1.5 million and experienced its best year ever in 2012.
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