Fashion accessories chain Claire’s is on the brink of collapse after the retailer said it will appoint administrators in the UK and Ireland, putting 2,150 jobs at risk.
The company has 278 stores in the UK and 28 in Ireland but has been struggling with falling sales and fierce competition.
All the shops will continue trading while administrators at Interpath, once appointed, will “assess options for the company”.
Interpath chief executive Will Wright, said options include “exploring the possibility of a sale which would secure a future for this well-loved brand”.
Claire’s chief executive Chris Cramer said the company had taken the “difficult” decision to appoint administrators to allow stores to remain open “while we explore the best possible path forward”.
Claire’s had been particularly popular for its ear piercing services, and was a common stop in the early 2000s for tweens and teens during a weekend shopping trip in malls across the world.
Its stores were eye-catching for their colourful selection of hair bands, earrings, jewellery and occasionally for toys like slime and fluffy toys.
The move in the UK comes after it filed for bankruptcy in the US earlier this month, where the firm said it was suffering from people moving away from bricks-and-mortar stores.
The firm operates under two brand names, Claire’s and Icing, and is owned by a group of firms, including investment giant Elliott Management.
Similar to its UK administration process, the firm said all of its US shops will remain open until an alternative future is found.
It is the latest casualty in several store-heavy firms who has suffered from the decline of the High Street as people move more towards shopping online.
In its US filing, Mr Cramer blamed “increased competition, consumer spending trends and the ongoing shift away from brick-and-mortar retail” for the declaration of bankruptcy, as well as “debt obligations” and wider economic turmoil.
The firm, like many accessories stores, gets a lot of its products from Asia, and is likely to suffer from US president Donald Trump’s tariffs imposed on China and its neighbours.
“A lot of that category is sourced from Asia, and any increase in import costs hits hard when your price points are low and margins are tight,” retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth said at the time of the US bankruptcy filing.
Stuart Greenfield, a supply chain expert at Advanced Supply Chain, said: “Part of Claire’s Accessories’ problems are that its supply chain isn’t working, as it has failed to adapt in fast-changing markets.”
“The retailer has borne the financial impact of US tariff reforms on imports from China, eroding already tight margins on low-value goods,” he said.
