So Long, Most of My High School Memories: Claire’s Accessories Files for Bankruptcy

So this might be the other shoe dropping. The last few weeks have brought back beloved relics from the past: Polly Pocket, My Little Pony, and TV shows we loved as kids. It was really starting to feel like our childhoods were coming back to make everything OK again! But we should know better by now. Nothing in life is free, and for every win, there’s a painful, stinging loss. Today, it comes in the form of the news that Claire’s Accessories is filing for bankruptcy. My life, ages 12-17, just flashed before my eyes.

Image: Giphy

Claire’s Accessories was a mall staple. Like Sbarro and Contempo Casuals! We should’ve known they’d eventually head to the big mall in the sky one day.

Most of my high school memories involve a good old-fashioned mall crawl. Our parents would drop us off with a little cash and pick us up HOURS later. Life was so simple then! I credit Claire’s to most of my questionable fashion choices, along with three extra ear holes. Come to think of it, they probably shouldn’t have pierced my ears without my mom there. But that was the beauty of a mall in the 90’s!

Claire's is going out of business because you shoplifted those power beads in 1998

— Amber Treadway (@treadway_amber) March 10, 2018

The company is expected to file chapter 11 in the next few weeks.

Claire’s is just the most recent victim of the brick-and-mortar death knell. Toys-R-Us filed for bankruptcy protection toward the end of 2017, and is rumored to be closing all its stores in the very near future after failing to restructure their debts.

The chapter 11 filing will give the troubled retailer a chance to turn things around before taking drastic steps, but the outlook is pretty grim. Malls just don’t get the traffic and business that they used to, and many of them around the country are full of empty storefronts. The chain is planning to transfer ownership from Apollo Global Management LLC to a group of lenders. But with over $2 billion in debt, we may be nearing the end of the ubiquitous BFF heart necklace.

I may not shop at Claire’s for myself anymore, but they do sell those hideous JoJo Bows that my kid is obsessed with.

So it’ll be sad to see them go. Best of luck, Claire’s! Spritzing myself in glitter body spray and donning a scrunchie in your honor today.

(Image: Facebook / Claire’s)