The men behind the Lids turnaround are putting on their thinking caps—or, more aptly, their thinking claw clips—to revitalize tween trinket store Claire’s.
Investment firm Ames Watson, co-founded by Lawrence Berger and Tom Ripley, announced this month it purchased Claire’s for $140 million after the retailer filed for bankruptcy for the second time in August, citing issues like increased competition and lower foot traffic. The firm has become known for turnarounds, acquiring Lids in 2019, and more than doubling its store count and revenue, now at $1.4 billion, per the Wall Street Journal. The company also owns sportswear brand Champion, and apparel retailer South Moon Under.
While an athletic hats retailer and tween accessories chain might not seem like they have a lot in common, Berger told Retail Brew that he and Ripley are prepared to institute a similar playbook for the millennial mall staple’s comeback. He said it’ll take “a full year” to implement changes—which span improved merchandising and marketing, and some store clean-up—but they’re up for the challenge.
“We're good at fixing companies,” Berger said.
A good clip: Claire’s was founded in 1974 and rose to prominence in the late ’90s and early 2000s, reaching a demographic that historically ranges from about ages 3 to 15, but the company has faced more competition in recent years. Amazon, Temu, and Shein now offer similar accessories at a lower price point, while retailers like Sephora have started to attract younger consumers, pulling them away from Claire’s. But Berger believes there’s a chance to reel in those older consumers—and even their kids—once more.
To solve for both issues of straying shoppers, Claire’s merchandise has to become more unique, Berger said. Claire’s will still offer the affordable trinkets it’s known for while adding products that are licensed by or exclusive to the retailer, more higher-priced jewelry options within piercing, and even a few things for moms, Berger said. That exclusivity strategy was also employed for Lids, moving its “stale” inventory to 60%–70% exclusive products today, Berger said.
“We have to have really interesting things for them that only Claire’s has, [that] they can’t buy in other places,” Berger said. “Over the last few years, the company got away from that.”
Part of updating its merchandise is also weeding out the products that are, well, not as cool anymore, to ensure “we aren’t keeping the stuff in the stores that is off-trend and uninteresting,” he said. That means it’s time to do away with all the Stanley-like tumblers (“Anyone who wanted a Stanley cup has got one already…Should we really have a wall of that?” he said) and claw clips (hair bows are selling better, apparently).
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Beyond merchandise, Claire’s will up its teammate training to improve the ear piercing and general in-store experience, and aims to make the most of their physical stores by hosting events or birthday parties, Berger said.
Claire’s online store, meanwhile, has been put on pause, per an update on its website. In the near term, its e-commerce site will be used to highlight new products and promotions and allow customers to book piercing appointments, he said, and while there may be more e-commerce investments in the future, Claire’s identity as an “experiential retailer” remains paramount.
Ear to the ground: Berger said Claire’s plans to document its turnaround efforts on social media—whether it be showcasing the new merchandise or that the freshly cleaned purple carpets are in need of little TLC. Bringing consumers along for the journey will then allow them to give feedback on what they’d like to see in stores, Berger noted.
Beyond that, much of Claire’s marketing strategy will take a page out of Lids’s playbook. Berger noted the hat retailer introduced an Ultimate Hat Collection contest that allowed the winner to design their own hat line and ultimately be featured modeling the products in its marketing.
“We made it really authentic, and we connected to our community,” he said. “We want to do that kind of stuff in the Claire’s stores too.”
Berger said Claire’s aims to deploy both younger shoppers and parents across its marketing. The rapid trend cycle doesn’t make it easy to keep up with Gen Alpha, Berger admitted, but Claire’s overall strategy going forward will be an even mix of talking to customers about what they like and Claire’s team working to get ahead of trends. While Berger just turned 54—and is therefore likely not fluent in Italian brain rot—he believes the generations aren’t all that different.
“The Labubu trend…is no different than the Cabbage Patch kids trend, right?” Berger said.