Nerd glasses and friendship necklaces: Claire’s was heaven until Shein came along

For Beth Searby, a Saturday as a teenager wasn’t complete without going to Claire’s with her friend.

But that tweenage rite of passage looks uncertain as the future of the chain hangs in the balance.

Beth and her friends would use their pocket money in the late noughties to buy magnetic earrings, badges and toe rings from the accessories brand.

“You never went home empty-handed,” says Beth, now 30.

Shopping there was like an “analogue Temu,” she says.

“You could go in with your bits of change that you had left from buying your McDonald’s or your Burger King and you could pick up a pair of earrings or a necklace or a badge to put on your school bag and you’d be spending 50p, £1, £2.”

Claire’s has appointed administrators in the UK and Ireland after battling with falling sales and high competition.

It said its 278 shops in the UK and 28 in Ireland would continue trading while it considered “the best possible path forward”, but it’s stopped online sales.

Originally a US brand, Claire’s opened its first UK store in the mid-90s and quickly became a mainstay among tweens who flocked there for affordable hair ties, glittery butterfly clips, matching friendship necklaces and lip gloss.

“It was the ultimate shop for young people,” says Ella Clancy, 29.

She remembers using her pocket money to buy earrings, scrunchies and Lip Smacker lip balms from Claire’s as a teenager.

Particularly memorable are the so-called “nerd glasses” she and her friends got there – glasses with chunky, dark frames and no prescription.

The shops were always “super pink and colourful and girly,” she says.

“When you’re a little girl, it’s sort of like heaven,” says Vianne Tinsley-Gardener, 23.

She would go to the Claire’s stores in Braintree, Essex, to buy keyrings, earrings and stationery.

The shops were full of “unique little knick-knacks”, she says.

Its lucky dips bags – where you didn’t know what you were getting – and multibuy offers like its five items for £10 deal turned shopping there into a treasure hunt and catered to tweens’ budgets.

Claire’s was a staple for young people getting their ears pierced, too – and it often had special deals.

But many Claire’s shoppers found that some point during their time at secondary school, the brand just stopped being cool.

They turned to places like Accessorize, Topshop and Primark instead.

This was the case for Ceara Silvano, 23. She remembers it became too “kiddish” when she was about 13 and she started shopping at Primark instead.

“You do just grow out of stuff like that,” Ceara says – though she still returned later to have her ears pierced at Claire’s.

Al Thomann loved Claire’s when they were younger because of its use of bright colours, glitter and floral designs.

But as they grew up, they too started to see the brand as “childish” and stopped shopping there.

“You start to feel like you’re a young adult, and all around me, most of the adults were not shopping at Claire’s,” Al, now 25, says.

“Aspiring to be an adult meant rejecting that sort of childlike, colourful, rainbow, unicorn whimsy.”

Back in the 2000s and 2010s, young people bought things because they liked them, rather than because they were trendy, says Constance Richardson, who owns the personal styling business By Constance Rose.

But thanks to rising use of social media, young people are keeping up-to-date with what’s stylish online.

“Shein can spot a trend on TikTok and have that live within days, often for much less money” than Claire’s, says Georgia Wright, a reporter at Retail Gazette.

Shein, a Chinese online fast-fashion giant, sells a huge range of items including clothes, accessories and stationery for low prices.

Claire’s, in comparison, doesn’t pounce on trends as quickly, Ms Wright says.

And it can’t compete on price, Miss Richardson says. “They’re still selling novelty products at a non-novelty price.”

Another factor is that young people are often influenced by creators on social media who are much older than them – and don’t shop at Claire’s.

“Kids are growing up faster than ever,” says Ms Wright. “You’ve got 11 year olds with five-step skincare routines.”

At the other end of the spectrum to Shein, they’re turning to more premium brands like Sephora, Space NK and Astrid and Miyu, she says.

Claire’s “just doesn’t deliver the same excitement,” Ms Wright says.

But the brand still holds a special place in many people’s hearts.

Ceara says she feels nostalgic about shopping at Claire’s and wishes she’d kept some items as mementoes.

Whenever Ella walks past Claire’s stores, “it brings a little smile to my face”.

And some people say they still enjoy shopping at the brand.

“As I started university and started thinking about my own sexuality and gender identity and how I wanted to present myself, the sort of items that Claire’s sold once again came back into my field of knowledge,” Al says.

“All of the really beautiful, very unique earrings and necklaces, bracelets, flower crowns, those kinds of things, were almost instruments to display my own identity in a way that was visible.”