THE Kiddicare store on Purley Way is to close, along with nine others across the country, just a year after it opened.
Ironically at a birthday celebration event last month in the store on the Trafalgar Way Retail Park on Purley Way, store manager, Nicholas Asamoah said: "It's been an amazing 12 months for Kiddicare Croydon."
But now it has been revealed the baby superstore chain has been sold by Morrisons for £2 million to company turnaround funders, Endless, which has announced all 10 stores will close.
The business will now concentrate on its online operations.
Between 700 and 800 jobs are expected to be lost nationwide but a spokeswoman for Kiddicare said this week as a consultation process was in operation it was not possible to say how many jobs would be lost in Croydon or when the store would shut.
Garry Wilson, Endless managing partner, has told specialist magazine Retail Week: "It is a difficult situation with store closures but every store is heavily loss-making.
"We are not closing stores for the sake of it. We've been tasked with performing surgery."
Mr Wilson has also said Kiddicare was a good e-commerce business which should not be dragged down by loss-making stores.
Morrisons bought Kiddicare in 2011 and was responsible for opening the stores.
