Clinton Cards in the Erneside shopping centre is one of 397 stores across the United Kingdom that have been bought by a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation.

Clinton Cards and its subsidiary, Birthdays Retail Limited, were put into administration early last month.

The Erneside shop is part of the group's core estate that administrators said supported a "viable business" and "better placed to operate in today's challenging market". The sale to Lakeshore Lending Limited comprises the brand and assets of the Erneside store.

It is a tale of two stores as the fate of stablemate Birthdays on High Street looks less certain. A "store closing" poster adorns the windows and administrators Zolfo Cooper have listed the Enniskillen Birthdays as one of the stores that are to remain under its control. They are looking for a buyer for this remaining part of the business. Mr. Peter Saville, Joint Administrator and Partner at Zolfo Cooper commented: "Having concluded the sale of the core Clinton Cards business, the Joint Administrators will now focus their efforts on the store portfolio identified as part of the closure programme announced on 16 May 2012.

As a part of this exercise, the Joint Administrators continue to welcome expressions of interest for this part of the estate, as a whole or in part".

Meanwhile, there are hopes that the Scottish outdoor sportswear retailer Trespass will open in Erneside.

The website for Trespass, which has its headquarters in Glasgow, is advertising vacancies for a manager and supervisor in a store in Enniskillen. Trespass has 85 shops across the United Kingdom and seven already in Northern Ireland. A new store is to open soon in Bangor.

And Cumbrian retailer Lakeland, which sells homewares, has already advertised for a retail store manager at Erneside shopping centre who is being asked to manage a team of around 15 to 20. Closing date for applications is tomorrow (Friday).