PAPERCHASE'S Merry Hill store is one of 106 branches facing closure.

The shop only opened in October after a previous store at the Brierley Hill shopping centre closed down - with seven employees now facing redundancy.

The retailer hired administrators this morning (Tuesday January 31) after the struggling business was unable to secure a rescue sale.

Tesco has announced a deal to buy the brand, but not its shops or workforce.

The move means Paperchase’s stores are expected to shut, with hundreds of shop workers likely to face redundancy.

At the time of Paperchase opening at Merry Hill last October the area manager for Paperchase said: "Merry Hill is extra special as we used to have a store here which sadly closed, so we have wanted one back for a long time.

"We had such a fabulous customer base and they are as excited as us that we are going back into the centre and we can’t wait to welcome them back through our doors.

"We have managed to get two colleagues back in there that were in the original line-up - Nora and Sarah - as well as creating five new jobs at sales assistant and supervisor level."

Paperchase appointed administrators from Begbies Traynor to oversee the insolvency process.

It came after the ailing firm failed to secure a buyer after being placed on the market by retail veteran owner Steve Curtis.

The administrators said: “Unfortunately, despite a comprehensive sales process, no viable offers were received for the company, or its business and assets, on a going concern basis.

“However, there has been significant interest in the Paperchase brand and attendant intellectual property.

“The joint administrators will continue trading the company’s operations in the short-term, with all stores remaining open and trading as normal.”

The company said it will continue to honour gift cards in the short-term but stressed it will “not be possible” to redeem these after two weeks.

Paperchase also fell into administration two years ago, with the closure of 37 stores.

Jan Marchant, managing director of home and clothing at Tesco, said: “Paperchase is a well-loved brand by so many and we’re proud to bring it to Tesco stores across the UK.

“We have been building our plans to bring more brands and inspiration to the ranges we currently offer and this will help us to take those plans further.

“We look forward to sharing more with our customers in due course.”