Claire's just gave its Dadeland Mall store in Miami a serious makeover, swapping the old piercing guns for FDA-registered, hand-pressurized medical devices and adding selfie mirrors built for social sharing. The redesigned location opened last Friday, part of a national relaunch aimed squarely at Gen Alpha shoppers ages 6 to 14. A second South Florida location, at Town Center at Boca Raton, is set to debut its own version of the new concept next Friday.
[b1] The overhaul comes less than a year after Claire's very existence was in question. As the Miami Herald reports, the mall retailer closed 290 stores nationwide last summer, including about a dozen in Florida, before being sold to private equity firm Ames Watson. That sale, confirmed at $140 million, halted what had been a planned full liquidation and preserved between 800 and 950 store locations, according to Retail Dive.
It marked the second time in seven years Claire's had landed in Chapter 11, following an earlier 2018 bankruptcy tied to more than $1.9 billion in long-term debt left over from a 2007 leveraged buyout by Apollo Global Management, per Business Insider. The company also faced the challenge of modernizing its aging mall storefronts.
From 3,400 Stores to a Leaner, Redesigned Footprint
Claire's had roughly 3,400 standalone stores at its peak in 2012, per the Miami Herald's reporting, a footprint that has shrunk dramatically since. Ahead of the Ames Watson deal, the company shut down 56 Icing stores and eliminated 210 shop-in-shops inside Walmart, according to Bisnow, part of a broader reduction from more than 1,500 North American locations.
Today Claire's counts about 900 remaining standalone stores, the Herald reports, with plans to also run kiosks and pop-ups through partnerships with Walmart, CVS and Kohl's. The Dadeland Mall location is now redesigned, and 15 other South Florida stores have yet to receive announced glow-up dates. Claire's is also selling cosmetics, hair accessories and jewelry through stores-within-stores at its outlets.
New Piercing Tech Meets Boutique Studio Competition
The centerpiece of the redesign is the piercing station itself. Jillian Cueff said Claire's is modernizing its original piercing experience to make it more personal, shareable and interactive, and that every Claire's piercing specialist underwent updated training. The retailer is also holding piercing prices steady while offering the procedure free with a starter kit starting at $29.99, and adding one-on-one consultations with piercing specialists before the procedure, plus inspiration bars and clear try-on sticks so customers can preview stud sizes and ear-stacking placement.
The upgrades land as boutique piercing startups muscle into the space Claire's once dominated. Rowan, which uses licensed nurses and operates more than 100 studios, has plans to take over some shuttered Claire's locations, while Studs has expanded into the boutique piercing space, according to Fast Company. Both upstarts have gained ground by marketing sterile, curated ear-styling experiences — the same territory Claire's is now trying to reclaim with its own hand-pressurized devices and redesigned stations.
Florida's Piercing Rules Still Treat Claire's Differently
Even with the new equipment, Claire's mall piercing counters continue to operate under a different regulatory lane than dedicated body-piercing studios. Under Florida Statute § 381.0075, mechanized, pre-sterilized ear-piercing systems that penetrate only the earlobe or outer perimeter are exempt from the state's body-piercing salon licensing, biomedical waste permits and health department oversight, according to the Florida Department of Health. Standard body-piercing facilities, by contrast, face annual inspections and specialized permits.
[b11] For piercings involving minors, Florida Administrative Code Rule 64E-19 still requires written, notarized parental consent for 16- and 17-year-olds, and mandates that a parent or guardian be physically present for procedures on younger children, per the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County. Claire's provides post-piercing aftercare tips to customers.
Chasing the ‘Earscaping’ Trend
[b13] Claire's has been performing ear piercings since 1978 and has completed more than 100 million of them worldwide, according to Bondoro. The brand, which traces its origins to Fashion Tress Industries in Chicago in 1961 and took the Claire's name from Claire's Boutiques in 1973, is now leaning into stacked-lobe and ear-stacking trends, with multi-piercing styling popular among younger shoppers.
The redesigned stores lean into a new lilith lavender color scheme in place of the brand's former deeper blue look, and use selfie mirrors and social media to court younger shoppers, per the Herald's reporting. Claire's also released a six-episode series called All Glown Up, starring teen creators Txunamy Ortiz and Caitlin Kim, following two Claire's girls as they react to collections and try out the new piercing experience. The brand maintains that girlhood is accessible beyond the Gen Alpha age range it primarily targets.
A Wider Retail Bet Beyond the Mall
Claire's first debuted the new store concept at its Santa Anita location in California in early August, before bringing it to Dadeland Mall this month. In May, Ames Watson finalized a strategic licensing deal with Centric Brands to distribute Claire's branded jewelry and accessories across more than 7,000 retail doors, according to a statement from Centric Brands, extending the redesign's ambitions well beyond the roughly 900 standalone stores that remain.
[b17] Claire's bankruptcy filing last year preceded the store closures and eventual sale that made this month's redesigns possible. South Florida will have two glow-up locations, with Dadeland Mall already open and Boca Raton's Town Center store opening next Friday.
