Another potential loss for the high street: Claire's Accessories

Their downfall was their pricing of their tat. All of their stuff ileas eye wateringly expensive.

Yes this

Except for the 2000 whose jobs are at risk.

Its a shame as that is a hell of a lot of jobs, but it isn’t a surprised, everything in there is expensive and poor quality.

Exactly- i remember Claires opening up on our main street years ago, i used to go in and buy stuff for going out as well all my jewellery for my grad came from their. I now bring my nieces in and buy them stuff- yes i can buy cheaper on shein etc ( i dont by way refuse point blank to buy from shein or temu) but the difference is my nieces get the physically see the stuff, we see the prices and they have to pick to a set budget, we had to walk to the shop from the car park, we got hot chocolate after, it was a few hours break for my sister, we didnt have to scroll on a phone looking at the screen to buy. I am in my mid 40s and ever when i was a child we went to town on Saturday to meet for a coffee with my mother and my aunts bought me what my mother deemed as "tat" then in the shops. Soon there will be nothing left on the main street to go into

I’m not surprised - it’s so expensive and all the stuff is from China anyway. You can get it all on Aliexpress for 10x less. Probably from the same factory.

This is also my issue with a lot of local boutiques - I would pay £14 for some hairclips if they were made locally. But those hairclips will be the exact same ones from Alibaba, just 10x the cost. Most “independent businesses” are just dropshopping from China at a huge markup. Why should I fund them and not buy directly for the exact same product?

Majority of couples work full time. Online shopping is VERY convenient for bulk ordering and saves hassle taking kids out to run some errands. Plus, parking costs and then petrol. There has been a rise in parking fines too.

What sane parents want to spend their weekends running errands and grocery shopping when I can have it delivered on a weekday? Which means I can save my weekends taking kids out and spending quality time with them.

If it was an industry that employed that many men it would treated differently I bet.

It's not really a loss. 🤷‍♀️

I thought it already had closed! Our local shop has been gone years and I've only seen traces of them in supermarkets with little kiosk type stalls, still massively overpriced.

This is what I mean when I post on Shien etc threads about money leaving the country. I've not been in a Claires for years and it sounds like its been overpriced, but buying stuff from Shien, Temu etc your money is 100% going straight out the country into Chinese pockets. Yes other companies manufacture in china but if they have a presence in the UK then they are paying wages and (hopefully) tax.

Over 2000 jobs up for the chop now because of cheap imports.

My DD used to love Claires back when the Jojo bows were all the rage and Claires was the only place to get the actual branded ones. In recent years she's found you can get much the same jewellery and hair accessories for a lot cheaper in Primark. I will be sad to see Claires go though, I used to shop there myself as a teenager.

Very few counties still have landfill (in England at least). Most now send general waste to be burnt and turned into electricity

Can't say I'm surprised tbh and I'm amazed it's lasted this long considering the ridiculous prices for what is ultimately tat.
Was so relieved when DD grew out of buying shite from there.

Claire’s business model made sense twenty years ago, now not so much.

I didn't realise it was still going, the one in my town closed a couple of years ago.

I's not a good place to get ears pierced, much better to find a tattoo place to do it properly.

Is it going out of fashion, or are more people just getting it cheaper? I’m not the people you know but generally.

Yes I agree. My daughter likes spending her pocket money there and has some vouchers to use.
It's hard to know where to go to buy the 'tat' they sell without resorting to looking online, it's hard for children to have that experience of going into a shop and picking out things they like these days.
(And to the other poster who said better to go to a park etc, we do that too!)

It’s a shame that people will lose jobs, but my God, what a load of fucking shite is stocked by Claire’s. That said, my nieces love the place. But they have severely limited money, as do most kids their age so I suppose that’s not great for business. Mostly DNs go in and look at it all as though it’s a magical universe, beg for anything they see, touch loads of stock and come out with a small cheap item or nothing at all. And then grow out of it.

It’s always been a tat shop and u can get the same thing but cheaper from Temu and Shein if you need more tat in your life.

Take them to a country park instead, let them run around, and then visit the gift shop and cafe, probably be cheaper and much better for them. I can think of a few independent shops near me selling good quality home made jewellery much cheaper.

Maybe buying tat is going out of fashion.
People I know prefer experiences/nature and cafes, over shopping for nik naks.
Maybe it's a good thing.

But surely it is much more fun for young kids to look around Claire‘s and choose various items, than looking at the screen and ordering online. It’s just not the same for children, surely. Being in a shop, looking at prices, talking to shop assistants, are useful social learning experiences too.

I feel sad when any High Street shop shuts down. I’m in my 50s now but I’ve always loved shopping in person. Just today I was reminiscing about the topshop on Oxford Circus. All the different floors and the basement floors with all their unusual one-off labels. I have many happy memories of shopping up and down Oxford Street from my university years.

Whilst my kids and I are too old for Claire‘s now, it was part of their lives many years ago and it makes me sad to lose another household name. It must be very stressful for the staff right now.

They sell overpriced tat so they're competing with the likes of temu online where people can buy their gawdy plastic tat for less than half the price of Claires.

Shame for anyone who loses their job though.