SmartCompany reported on the sale of Wild Cards & Gifts to WH Smith two days ago. The report contains some insights that will interest newsagents:
WH Smith plans to continue to operate the Wild Cards & Gifts brand under its existing name but Boyle says the UK-based retailer plans to grow the business further.
“The intention, as I understand it, is to maintain the brand in terms of what the customer sees and to look at the way the business is supplied, the marketing and the support structure of the group,” Boyle says.
“[Wild Cards & Gifts] is going to grow through profit improvement programs that WH Smith has planned from increased critical mass and being part of a worldwide network.”
What a WH Smith owned Wild shop looks like remains to be seen.
Later in the piece, Lawrence Boyle, one of the founders of Wild, takes a swipe:
“We have removed our main competition from the market place through that time, Kenny’s Cardiology, it’s a business model based in the 80s that is no longer relevant.”
Hmmm … Kenny’s is still around – much smaller, but still around.