Claire's Closing 119 Stores Nationwide
Updated August 11, 2022, originally posted on January 15, 2009
Claire's, a retailer of jewelry and fashion accessories for girls, is closing 119 stores. One of the Claire's locations that is closing is mentioned in the Albert Lea Tribune. The manager of the store told the paper that they are one of 119 Claire's stores that will be closed.
Claire's was purchased by Apollo Management VI in 2007 and has over 3,000 stores. The Wall Street Journal mentioned Claire's in a story about an anticipated incoming wave of retailer bankruptcty filings. The article says Moody's downgraded the Claire's debt twice in 2008.
Claire's Stores, based in Pembroke Pines, Fla., has 3,074 stores in North America and Europe. Moody's downgraded its debt twice in 2008, pushing the company's rating deeper into what Moody's analyst Maggie Taylor calls the "deep junk" category."There's not very much room that it can go," said Ms. Taylor.
Claire's Stores spokesman Steven S. Anreder defended the company saying Claire's "has an extremely flexible capital structure, with no near-term debt maturities and no financial covenants, and had $194 million of cash as of our last report."
Update: Claire's also closed 92 stores in 2018 - see Business Insider.
However, Claire's started pursuit of an IPO in 2021. They have over 3,400 stores in 37 countries according to Wikipedia. There is a U.S. store locator on claires.com.