STATIONERY Box headquarters is set to close after a buyer could not be found, the Warrington Guardian understands.

A former employee said: "They sent out letters in the middle of last month saying it had around four weeks to go."

An industry source said: "That tallys with my understanding. It wouldn't surprise me with the company in this state."

The firm once employed more than 100 staff at its Dallam headquarters but its name, and around 60 stores, were bought by Partners the Stationers.

A skeleton staff has been operating the HQ at Eagle Business Park as The Newname Real Solutions Ltd (formerly Stationery Box).' A spokesman for the company said: "Administrators have sold a number of the 76 stores that comprised the business when they were available on January 29.

"The remaining stores have closed."

A spokesman for administrators, DTE Leonard, said: "We are doing our utmost to obtain as positive an outcome as possible in the circumstances."

Stationery Box opened its first store in 1989 and grew rapidly through the 1990s, boasting 112 stores by 1998.

The company had been sold in September to the restructuring firm Hilco, which in turn has just sold 61 stores to Theo Paphitis' company Chancerealm.

The company sold 61 of its stores to Partners the Stationers, which is part-owned by Theo Paphitis from the BBC show Dragons' Den.