Stationery giant kikki.K saved from administration, preserving 250 jobs

Swedish stationery giant kikki.K has been saved from going under after a US rival emerged as the winning bidder for the retail chain overnight.

EC Design will enter into a partnership with kikki.K whereby a "selective" retail footprint of just 30 stores will remain.

Much of kikki.K's product will be distributed via its ecommerce platform, preserving close to 250 jobs within the business.

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The brand was placed into voluntary administration in March after its owners said they were caught in a "perfect storm" of retail conditions, including Brexit, the Australian bushfires and social unrest in Hong Kong.

Within 24 hours of announcing it had gone into receivership kikki.K had interest from nine potential buyers.

Founder and Creative Director Kristina Karlsson said she was happy that the partnership resulted in so many jobs staying intact.

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"It's been such a challenging time these last few months for so many people, and all of us at kikki.K were no exception," said Ms Karlsson.

"We really got caught in a perfect storm leading to Voluntary Administration, but our dream to do something meaningful in the world via kikki.K has been so strong we've done everything we can on behalf of all stakeholders."

Co-founder Paul Lacy said the opportunity to rebuild the brand will start with repaying the goodwill shown to kikki.K by retail landlords and suppliers.

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"While it's such an exciting time, and will set the beautiful brand we've created up to thrive, Kristina and I remain very conscious that a lot of stakeholders who have been strong supporters have been impacted, so it's very much a bittersweet moment for us," said Mr Lacy.

Of the stores that will operate, 25 will be based in Australia and two will be based in New Zealand.

One store will operate in Singapore and two will remain in Hong Kong.

Kikki.K is now trading in every Australian state except Victoria, where bricks and mortar stores have been shut in line with the latest Stage 4 restrictions.

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