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??

Anywhere doing ear piercings on children is unsafe imo.

Yeah timpsons is fab I don't know how it could be lumped in the same category as Claire's etc. It's so good for the environment to keep getting shoes repaired rather than just throwing them out. I've kept favourite shoes going for years by just getting them resoled

Claire’s use reusable guns that can’t be cleaned, and they basically shove a stud through your ears which can be traumatic and can cause infection and other long term issues.

I say all that as someone who has had over 20 piercings, many of which were done with guns with absolutely no issue - but we know better now.

Yeah I know but how often do you need that service? Passport every 10 years, keys cut once a decade. I don’t know… I prefer my local dry cleaners as they’re cheaper and do it on site, not all timpsons do, they send your garments off in a lot of places which takes longer.

Anyways, it is a convenient little shop when you do need it, I have used it, but it is always empty.

There's a ton of tattoo places in mybtownnthat also do piercings. These places have to be properly vetted for cleanliness etc so I'd rather go there than a dirty corner of a shop with everyone watching tbh.

As for the merchandise, I only went in there for clips & hair elastics. I can get similar in a lot of other places too. Jewellery, same.

We have a houseful of scatterbrained teenagers I reckon I get new keys cut every six months

😂 I’m not there yet!

They sold absolutely nothing that was essential to daily life and can't be found cheaper elsewhere. Ear piercing is available in other places.

Traumatic??

Making a hole in your body where there isnt one, is sort of harmful in itself, it comes with the territory. Of course a stud is 'shoved' through the ear, thats how it works.

People get so worked up over something really insignificant and like another poster says, whats the new thing going to be for people to get worked up over?

Except that’s not how it works if you get it done properly. A needle is used to remove the flesh and create a hole where the jewellery is then inserted. With a gun, you’re forcing a blunt stud through someone’s skin by using a spring-loaded machine.

They’re not remotely comparable.

FWIW I’ve had multiple gun piercings with no issues but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do better where possible.

This. Plus, it’s hardly a big issue you to have an infected ear piercing. I’ve had a couple of infections ear and nose (they were done at tattoo parlours and the GP told me each time is usually caused by aftercare not the pierce anyway)
A course of antibiotics and you’re fine.
Of course I bet someone on Mn has heard of a baby who got sepsis and died from a piercing at Claire’s 🤨

I am going to be “that person” but infected piercings can land you in the hospital and cause you to lose bits of your ear cartilage.

Is it rare? Yes. Can it also happen with needle piercings? Yes. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reduce the risk where possible and that does mean not going to places that use unsterilised plastic guns.

Even my ten year old told me, without prompting and based purely on her own observations of friends' infected piercings, that people shouldn't get their ears pierced at Claires!

Piercing there was usually free if you bought a certain amount of earrings. It was never £90 lol. Maybe it was £9 and she filled her bag with other stuff!

Exactly - it’s hardly some weird objection that’s just unique to middle-aged women on MN 😂

I worked there many many many moons ago, yes the shoplifting was awful, we had angled mirrors around the ceiling but when it was busy there was literally nothing we could do because we couldn't see it going on until you saw the empty packaging later.

We had to sell tat at the tills, we were bollocked if we didn't hit tat selling goals from head office, and it was the norm for the staff and even the manager to spend our own money on them to make up the numbers if we had no luck. We would allocate our spend totals amongst all the staff so no one had a bad score.

The ear piercing, eurgh. Although the earrings were in a sealed pack, I tried my best with the cleaning of everything else. I was a PITA for making sure the marking dots on the ears were level though, you didn't get a wonky placement under my watch 😂 Hated the spring action gun though. The other one was far gentler but also more expensive.

One one hand I'll be sad to see it go but on the other it's ridiculously overpriced. I only ever went in if there was a sale.

Yeah free but then they rip you off for the earrings. It was £90 with no other stuff. Not the first person I’ve heard charged a fortune for ear piercing it was never free

But she chose the £90 expensive option

Ear piercing starts at £30 or thereabouts at Claire's.
It goes up if you choose expensive earrings to go in. So it's your choice how expensive it is to get ears pierced there

Oh I’m not doubting that she chose the expensive option. But no one should be charging £90 regardless of earring choice.
I took my younger daughter last week and the most expensive option was £55 at a proper piercer. £90 is extortion

They were always terrible for piercings anyway- a gun should never be used and they’re not even fully trained professional piercers- just get a day’s course or something. I think it’s actually cheaper to go to a pro so no clue why anyone chose there…

I loved Claire’s as a tween / young teen but now can see it’s just a shop of actual tat. It’s so overpriced and low quality.

I love their styles but walk past as far too expensive. They’ve priced teenagers out

Claire’s gave me THE FEAR towards the end.

They sell a similar type of tat to Claires. No idea why people need so much plastic tat.