claire's comeback

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mornin’ merry makers 🦄💜🎀☂️👛👩‍🎤

y’all loved reminiscing with me on toys"r"us last week.

so i’m keeping up the nostalgic novemeber vibes with a reader requested brand deep dive. another reminder that the retail memories we make as kids stick with us way longer than any algorithm-driven product recommendation ever will. just think about how few brands you can recall ordering form on amazon…

this one's extra personal for me.

claire's was the store i dragged my mom (please join me in wishing here a happy belated bday) to go out of the way for every single time we went to the pall. i loved the lilac chaos of the spinning, creaking towers of earrings that i would methodically review. then there were all the promos like buy 3, get 1 free that made me feel like i was getting the deal of a lifetime with my $10 allowance. the bff necklaces that broke after two weeks but felt like a sacred pact.

but most memorably, it’s where i got my ears pierced.

i know that i’m not alone in being able to vividly recall so many details and memories at this store. and this is something ive been thinking about alot.

because these lasting memories can’t be put into a customer lifetime value calculation. but they’re worth everything, especially now and especially in retail.

so let’s study up on why so many us can still see claire’s so clearly and what we can learn from them.

the ear-ly days

claire's didn't start as the accessory empire we remember.

in 1961, founder rowland schaefer opened a wig retailer that became one of the largest chains in america. but when the fad faded, schaefer pivoted.

in 1973, he bought a small 25-store jewelry chain called claire's boutiques.

then in 1978, claire's introduced ear piercing services.

this is when everything changed.

this is when their stores went from sales making to memory making (& dare i say merrymaking 😉 )

getting your ears pierced is a major childhood milestone.

and claire’s has had a chokehold on this for decades. they given over 100 MILLION piercings. that’s millions of moments of transformation tied directly to a brand. the kid who got her ears pierced at claire's in 1985 brought her daughter in 2005. that daughter will probably bring her daughter in 2035.

the price might be $30, but the loyalty, brand equity, & tradition is truly priceless.

mall & memory dominance

by the 1990s, claire's was everywhere. the company acquired competitors and expanded globally. by 2012, claire's operated 3,469 stores across 37 countries. more importantly, claire's was in approximately 99% of major american shopping malls.

claire's became part of the ritual of going to the mall.

those spinning earring towers were designed for spending more time than necessary brwosing. the deals made you feel smart. the whole store was built to make tweens feel like they had agency, taste, money to spend.

it was basically a cult. especially for someone like me that wore a uniform to school so earrings were one of my only forms of self-expression.

when you step into a world in these formative years, it imprints differently.

the tarnished debt trap

in 2007, the schaefer family sold claire's to private equity firm apollo global management for $3.1 billion. in annoying classic leveraged buyout fashion, apollo loaded claire's with roughly $2 billion in debt 🙄 killing any flexibility from the brnd

so when the great recession hit and malls started dying, claire's couldn't weather the storm. by march 2018, claire's filed for bankruptcy.

lots more happened but to keep it short, they emerged leaner and by 2021 were profitable again.

but then inflation, tariffs, rising interest rates, and declining mall traffic hit.

in august 2025, claire's filed for bankruptcy again. plans were made to close 700 stores immediately, with another 800 at risk.

a sparkling new strategy

here's where this story diverges from the toys”r”us tragic almost death before the founder’s actual death…

in september 2025, private investment firm ames watson acquired claire's for approximately $140 million. they're keeping at least 800 stores open, possibly up to 950.

ames watson is operator-focused, not extraction-focused.

the firm previously bought lids out of bankruptcy in 2019 and grew it into a profitable billion-dollar business. they use their own capital, not outside investors, which means they can take a longer-term view without short-term profit pressures.

their plan is to focus on exclusivity, customization, and cultural relevance. invest in elevated piercing services. create experiences that can't be replicated online. concentrate on the best-performing locations instead of trying to be everywhere.

ames watson co-founder lawrence berger said claire's is "one of those rare brands that defines a stage of life, old enough to buy your first lip gloss, but still young enough to believe it could change your world."

that's the insight. claire's isn't just selling $8 earrings. it's selling transformation.

the piercing truth

when you create a memory, you create loyalty that transcends price, convenience, and competition. the mom who shops at claire's with her daughter isn't comparison shopping. she's recreating her own childhood. that's stickiness no discount code can match.

emotional ROI beats financial ROI in the long run.

online brands optimize for conversion rates and customer acquisition costs, but they forget to optimize for memorability. they're so focused on the transaction that they forget about the transformation.

you can't attach a spreadsheet value to the feeling of walking out of a store at age 7 with newly pierced ears and a teddy bear. but that feeling is worth decades of brand loyalty. it's worth a customer who doesn't even consider alternatives.

claire's is getting a second chance because someone finally took over who knows the brand isn't about earrings. it's about the moments those earrings represent.

the retailers that thrive in the next decade won't be the ones with the best algorithms. they'll be the ones that understand that humans, especially young humans, need physical spaces to mark milestones, to try on new versions of themselves, to create memories that last longer than any product ever could.

when we’re young, we’re not just shopping. we're becoming.

p.s. what other childhood brand’s are you most nostalgic about that i should cover next? i truly love getting reader requests!

p.p.s. if you’re running ads for black friday or just want more free merry makery, you should click this 👇️