Claire's Going into administration question.

[PassingStranger]

Claire's are going into administration.

Just wondered what happened. Where are the people who shopped in there going instead.

They will be no ear piercing if they've all gone shopping online??

Agreed. I don't think I'd want to get ne ears pierced there. I didn't realise they did ear piercing.

Do I wonder what all the middle aged hysteria about Claire’s ear pricing will be replaced with? It’s kept women on internet forums busy for decades

The travel-based ones are still WHSmiths.

Oh crap

I know 'everyone' on here absolutely loves to hate Claire's but I really love it. All My earrings and my hair accessories are from there. And no these aren't tat. And I haven't found any earrings or hair things as good at the ones in Claire's actually

All the good shops always end up closing 😢😢

Yes I also saw that happen last year and I found it really difficult to witness and the baby was really upset.

Most actual piercing places won’t do it under age 8, so i say good riddance to anywhere that will pierce babies’ ears with a gun.

Tbh i really loved Claires when I was younger but i bought some gifts in there last year and was really shocked at the price!

I used to really like Clare’s but the last few years the prices have gone up and up, the quality has gone down and it’s just not been as good. I have an 11year old girl who should be prime demographic for it but while she could spend ages looking at everything she rarely found stuff she actually wanted.

2006 was a weird time

I didn't realise until this evening that Claire's is owned by the same company as The Original Factory shop. And that is also going into administration.

That is really bad news for my wee town.

We have already lost M & Co and apart from the horrible Morrisons supermarket The Original Factory shop is the only largish shop we have. I don't like the shop but having yet another empty retail unit in the town, and a good sized one at that, is very depressing.

It's very outdated, reminds me of the early 2000s along with the likes of Tammy Girl, C&A etc. The type of stuff sold there can be found in many other physical and online shops a lot cheaper.

I got my ears pierced there as a kid and it hurt so much that when it came to changing the earrings (the ones they pierced my ears with), my mum had to call my dad round to pin me down because I was kicking and screaming so much 😅

Ear piercing isn’t the only function of that store though. It’s hundreds of plasticky overpriced jewellery items and random backpacks that are aimed at small children. All the stuff you can now get in Primark for a quarter of the price. The only thing I’m surprised about is how they didn’t go under years ago. That and the likes of WHSmith (I know they’ve had several admin changes), timpsons and I’m sure there’s a few more I can’t think of right now

I don’t think retail outlets rely on customers through the door as much as we like to think. They often have hedge fund or other investment owners and their value is tied up in their assets rather than sales revenue. That’s why some can fail overnight and some seemingly failure brands keen going. It’s more about how the hedge fund have leveraged it than its sales performance

My dd got her ears pierced at Claire's, as did my younger sister. We didn't know at the time that it would be better to do it at a proper piercer. But, to give credit where it's due, people who did the piercings were really careful, gentle and professional. So sometimes I think they get more criticism than they deserve.

Re the shops, there's less footfall in town centres now - girls shop on Shein for their cheap tat. Claire's got too expensive for kids to spend pocket money on and there were cheaper, online alternatives.

That’s only on the high street

Well I've not shopped at Shein or Temu before but the rate things are going I'll be forced to anyway cos the shops that sold three things I get will close

Im sad about the shop as I loved it as a child/teen and so do my kids. But the prices went from pocket money prices to a joke unless you were using a deal

Good riddance to the ear piercing though! I find reputable places want kids to be about 8-10 so will be harder to find a crappy place to do babies now which is good.

Same! I used to buy stuff there all the time as a teen. Now as an adult can’t afford it!

Good riddance.

I really like Claire's, it's a bit ridiculous and I love a browse in there.
But even if I didn't love it, I can't imagine remarking "good!" at the news that lots of people will be losing their jobs.

The Claire's near us did free piercings according to the big sign they had on their window.

I remember asking a nine year old what they'd like for their birthday and they choose approx six things in Claire's. All six items broke within 48 hours leading to a very sad nine year old.

ETA I'm sure the 'free piercings' didn't include buying the actual studs and extras needed to actually pierce!

Im reading all of this totally baffled, whats with the frothing about the piercing guns. Thats how my ears were done (one set anyway) at the chemist with a gun in the early 80s. Others were done by friends

People will just pierce their babies ears at home.

Disgusting, but it’s what they’ll do.

I suspect we are more educated now about the harm it can potentially do and the less risky options available (and I say this as someone who had my ears pierced by a gun that looked like the guns used in clothes shops to attach labels to clothes with no issues).

I popped into Claires a couple of times to get hair ties (plain black/nothing fancy). Both time I was shocked at the prices and went to local pharmacy/boots and got similar for much better value. Both times while the staff were nice I felt I was walking into a jumble sale with no logic on how things were displayed.

I do feel sorry for people losing their jobs. Not an easy time to be job hunting.

But Timpson's has a niche market, they do all sorts that you can't get elsewhere. There aren't really many cobblers on the high street, or dry cleaners.

They've put themselves in little huts at supermarkets now, they've expanded what they do. I can go and get my shopping and drop off my dry cleaning/get a key cut/get the soles replaced on my shoes/my handbag mended/passport photos done/watch battery replaced.