Photo / Greg Bowker

The Norman family's James Pascoe Ltd says its salvaged chain of Whitcoulls and Borders bookshops will honour all unexpired Whitcoulls gift cards and vouchers at full face value.

A total of 64 Whitcoulls Borders stores have been sold to Pascoe's, after the previous owner REDgroup, called in voluntary administrators, and the five Borders stores are expected to be rebranded as Whitcoulls.
Whitcoulls gift cards and vouchers would be honoured as a "thank you" to loyal customers, the company said.
A condition of the purchase out of administration was the transfer of the majority of the Whitcoulls leases to the JPL Group.

Ian Draper, former managing director of Whitcoulls and then the REDgroup, will be managing director of Whitcoulls and the James Pascoe group said that all companies in its group would add "considerable resources" both in the short and longer term to rebuild the books business.
"The challenge is to make the Whitcoulls business and its product-offering relevant and desirable, to refresh the stores, re-motivate, listen to and involve its team members," the company said.

More at New Zealand Herald.