Claire’s – the ear-piercing tween mall staple – is once again on the brink of survival, NPR reported.
The chain on Wednesday filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in seven years. It is struggling under the weight of new tariff costs just a year before an unwieldy loan of $500 million is due. The retailer says that its Canadian arm will pursue a similar bankruptcy proceeding but that North American stores will remain open during the process.
Claire’s has blamed its declining sales on inflation and shoppers’ growing reluctance to spend on while like faux-gold bangles, cat-shaped lip gloss, Hello Kitty socks and Barbie purses. Most of the store’s items come from China, whose products face the highest tariffs in President Trump’s renegotiation of world trade that has added new costs for Claire’s as the importer.”
Claire’s has been piercing ears across America since the 1970s, over time gobbling up Japanese, British and American rivals selling jewelry accessories. By the peak of its popularity in the early 2000s, Claire’s had grown into a fixture of malls.
This made the chain attractive to private-equity firm Apollo, which in 2007 staged a leveraged buyout. The deal saw Clare’s take on extensive debt that it planned to pay off as the chain grew rapidly — until it didn’t. As malls began to contend with dropping traffic and mounting online competition, so did Claire’s.
I remember the the first time I got my ears pierced at Claire’s. One of the women working at Claire’s put me in a chair and used a device to pierce my earlobes. It didn’t hurt at all, was quick and easy, and I paid for it with my own money.
When I got home, my parents, who were really mean to me, eventually noticed that I got my ears pierced. Most of my friends had their ears pierced, and I thought it was normal for girls my age to have piercings. I spent my own money to get my ears pierced, and refused to take out my ear piercings.
Skipping ahead, I started dating a guy who turned out to be absolutely horrible. At the time, his parents allowed me to live with them. I accepted because desperately wanted to get away from my parents.
My terrible boyfriend turned out to be a narcissist. He cheated on me several times, couldn’t control is anger, and was mean. At the time, we were walking around in the mall, and – for some reason – ended up at Claire’s.
This time, I asked to have piercings in the upper lobe of my ears. Again, one of the women working at Claire’s put me in the chair again and pierced the top of my ears. It sort of hurt, but I have a high pain tolerance.
After leaving Claire’s, I started to feel some pain where the piercing went, and I stopped walking through the mall. A responsible boyfriend would have asked me if I was okay, but my narcissist boyfriend didn’t care what I was feeling.