If you’re a millennial, you probably spent most of your childhood shopping for the hottest accessories of the moment and getting your monumental first ear piercing at Claire’s growing up. But after news broke yesterday that the iconic mall jewelry and accessory retailer filed for bankruptcy, former diehard Claire’s shoppers were filled with sadness for the loss of the store.
Stars including Kaley Cuoco, Vanessa Hudgens and even Mariah Carey’s own daughter have made the trip to Claire’s to get piercings done over the years (the company’s Chief Financial Officer estimates the stores have done more than 100 million piercings since its 1961 launch), and Khloé Kardashian has spoke about her obsession with Claire’s huge hoops. But as malls see declining foot traffic, Claire’s appears as though it may be a casualty to retail trends.
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If you’re devastated to see the source of all your butterfly clips and enamel earrings going the way of, well, your butterfly clips and enamel earrings, indulge your inner eighth grader by taking a nostalgic look back at all of the products you used to stock up on at Claire’s. (And if you still need to indulge in a pair of cute, cheap earrings, here’s where to go.)
Snap Bracelets
You probably collected tons of these colorful bracelets, which would provide hours of fun by slapping them onto your wrists with your friends in the school cafeteria.
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Butterfly Clips
These glitter-dusted clips became an everyday accessory staple in your twisted-back tween do.
Inflatable Chairs
Having a neon colored inflatable piece of furniture in your room was well worth the intense effort it always took to blow it up.
Plastic Barrettes
Whether or not you actually needed to use a barrette to clip your hair into place, you added a few to your hair for a fun pop of color all the time.
Yin-Yang Jewelry
You might not have known what the yin-yang symbol meant, but your jewelry box was filled with necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings adorned with it.
Tattoo Chokers
Some celebrities tried to bring this look back as recently as a few years ago.
Novelty Earrings
The most exciting part of getting your ears pierced for the first time at Claire’s: shopping for tons of colorful novelty earrings right after.
Mood Rings
Even though the color of your mood ring barely ever changed, you still trusted it it with all of your heart.
Stick-On Earrings
Before you were lucky enough to go to Claire’s to get your ears pierced for real, you popped on these (not-sticky-enough) stickers every day.
Peace Sign Jewelry
If you wanted to channel your inner flower child in a more colorful way, you likely went with peace sign adorned items instead.
