You may soon need a new source for your shiny, dangly pretties, your inexpensive trendy accessories, and your free ear piercings. Claire’s, a ubiquitous mall boutique chain favored by tweens, teens and young women, is set to close more than 290 stores as part of its bankruptcy process.
Claire's Holdings LLC, which announced on Aug. 20 it had sold its North American business to private equity firm Ames Watson for $104 million, listed more than 290 stores it planned to close in a court filing on Monday, Aug. 25.
That includes 235 Claire's locations in the U.S. and 56 Icing stores, a similar brand from Claire's aimed at women between 18 and 35.
Fifteen of the locations are in Florida: 12 Claire's and three Icing stores, out of the 74 Claire's and six Icing stores in the Sunshine State.
The filing also listed 830 stores — 785 Claire's locations and 45 Icing locations — that are not expected to close immediately. The company has 2,300 Claire's stores in North America and Europe, including 210 Claire's locations embedded in Walmart stores and 120 stores that operate under the Icing brand. The company also operates 9,000 concessions kiosks within malls.
The move comes after the company, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, noted in a subsequent court filing days later it would likely need to close more than 1,100 stores if it didn't find a buyer.
Claire's has been struggling against the rise of ultra-popular online fast fashion sites Shein and Temu, rising interest rates, inflation and tariffs on goods from China.
When are Claire's locations closing?
The dates for the expected store closings were not revealed in the filing, but they are expected to happen on a rolling basis, the company confirmed to USA TODAY.
Store closing sales could continue at the locations set to close, while closing sales at some other locations were discontinued, according to the filing.
The new owner, Ames Watson, said it planned to preserve the retail chain in a downsized form.
Which Claire's locations are closing in Florida?
The following Claire's and Icing locations are set to close, according to the company filing:
Brandon: Brandon Exchange, 459 Brandon Town Center Drive (Icing)
Cape Coral: Pine Island Marketplace, 511 SW Pine Island Road #103 (Claire's)
Clearwater: Countryside Mall, 27001 U S Hwy 19 N (Claire's and Icing)
Cutler Bay: Southland Mall, 20505 S Dixie Highway (Claire's)
Davie: Tower Shops Center, 2044 S University Drive (Claire's)
Daytona Beach: Volusia Mall, 1700 W International Speedway Blvd. (Claire's)
Hollywood: Sheridan Plaza, 5121 Sheridan Street #22 (Claire's)
Miami: River Landing, 1440 NW North River Drive 350 (Claire's)
Orlando
Colonial Plaza, 2752 E Colonial Drive (Claire's)
Waterford Lakes Town Center, 411 North Alafaya Trail (Claire's)
Port Orange: Pavillion at Port Orange, 5509 S. Williamson Blvd. (Claire's)
Wellington: The Mall @ Wellington, 10300 West Forest Hill Blvd. (Claire's and Icing)
Yulee: The Villages of Amelia, 463895 State Road 200 (Claire's)
Claire's stores closing: See the full list and map
Among the 291 stores closing, these states have the most: California (25), New York (18) and Illinois and Pennsylvania (16 each).
Where can I find Claire's and Icing stores near me in Florida?
There are curently 74 Claire's locations in Florida in 53 cities. You can see the list at stores.claires.com/us/fl/.
There are six Icing locations in Florida in Clearwater, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Sarasota and Wellington, Get more details at stores.icing.com/us/fl/.
Contributing: Fernando Cervantes, USA TODAY, and Reuters
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Claire's to close nearly 300 stores, including these in Florida
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