Donald John Lewin OBE (born 11 June 1933) is a British businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Clinton Cards, a chain of greeting cards shops in the United Kingdom. He and his family were estimated to be worth £139 million in 2008.

Biography

Lewin was born on 11 June 1933 in Bow, London, the son of a chimney sweep.[1][2] After leaving school at the age of 15, he worked for a building firm, did two years of National Service, sold brushes from door to door, sold credit and, when he was 26, got a job as a freelance salesman selling greeting cards to retailers.[1][3]

In 1968, he opened a specialist greeting card shop in Epping, Essex, and created the company Clinton Cards, named after his son, Clinton.[1][3] He opened a chain of seven shops, five of which he then sold to reinvest in larger shops in better locations.[1][3] By 1988, he had created a chain of 87 shops and floated the company on the stock exchange for a valuation of £20 million, retaining 50 per cent of the shares and using money raised to acquire rival greeting cards chains.[1]

By 2004, the company had 800 shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland, was valued at £180 million on the London Stock Exchange and had sales of £360 million.[4] The family stake in the business, share sales and other assets were estimated to be worth £139 million in 2008.[5] In 2012, the business had 767 shops and employed 8,000 people but went into administration later that year.[6] Lewin was made an OBE in 1996 and his autobiography, Think of a Card, was published in 2008.[7][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bridge, Rachel (2006). My Big Idea: 30 Successful Entrepreneurs Reveal How They Found Inspiration. London: Kogan Page Publishers. pp. 146–149. ISBN 978-0-7494-4626-0. OCLC 64688681. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  2. ↑ "From sweeping chimneys to £100m fortune". The Times. 10 May 2012. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Parker Pat (April 2009). "Playing his cards right". Essex Life. Archant. pp. 65–67. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. ↑ Bridge, Rachel (24 October 2004). "How I Made It: Don Lewin, founder of Clinton Cards". The Sunday Times. News International Limited. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  5. ↑ "Don Lewin and family". The Sunday Times. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Walsh, Kate (3 June 2012). "US firm rescues Clinton Cards". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  7. ↑ "O.B.E." The London Gazette. No. 54427. 15 June 1996. p. 12. Donald John LEWIN, Chairman, Clinton Cards. For services to the Greeting Cards Industry.
  8. ↑ "Clinton cards celebrates 40 years". Essex Life. 16 December 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.


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