There’s a breakthrough at Claire’s piercing stations.
New clinical standards, enhanced training, updated environments and visuals have been introduced to the ear piercing stations at Claire’s 900 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Claire’s also formed a “piercing excellence team” to travel to stores and lead employee education efforts and re-certifications.
The enhanced training involves digital learning, hands-on instruction, guided practice, ongoing assessments and recertification. “The revamped training covers very touchpoint of the piercing experience: consultation, sterile stud selection, earring placement mapping, hand-pressurized piercing techniques using FDA-registered medical devices for a gentle and sterile piercing, after-care education, and customer experience,” said Carey Brezler, Claire’s vice president of retail operations.
Furthermore, the piercing areas has been redesigned with “inspiration bars” for ear stacks, selfies, ‘destressors’ during the piercing, medical trays for piercing specialists to maintain sterile conditions, and “refreshed” employee uniforms, aftercare guides and piercing certificates.
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Piercing areas inside Claire’s occupy eight to 16 square feet, depending on the size of the store, compared to around four square feet in the old format. Claire’s stores average 1,000 square feet.
“For decades, families have trusted Claires with one of life’s most memorable milestones, and after listening to customers, we saw a clear opportunity to raise our standards even higher,” Brezler said.
Changing the piercing experience is part of a larger “reset strategy” at Claire’s also involving updating store presentations and marketing and widening the target audience, which is now from 6 to 14. Claire’s expanded its piercing stud collection, with new styles in single studs, lab-grown diamonds, and on trend designs, and is beefing up its social media with a series called “All Glown Up” featuring teen creators Txunamy Ortiz and Caitlin Kim. Also, Claire’s softened its signature purple color with a shade of ‘lillith,’ and has a new tagline, “I got pierced at Claire’s.”
The 60-year-old Claire’s says it have pierced over 131 million people. The youth retailer remains a mall staple as one of just a handful of retailers with scale devoted solely to young girls. It’s jewelry is priced from $1.99 to $119.
While targeting girls, Claire’s will pierce the ears of boys and adults of any gender.
In 2025, Ames Watson, a holding company with more than $2 billion in revenues, purchased Claire’s for $140 million, saving the retailer from liquidation. Ames Watson has a business model focused on operating and transforming businesses for the long term, not selling them after a few years. Ames Watson investments listed on its website include Lids, LidsU, Champion Teamwear, South Moon Under, Mitchell & Ness, Fanatics, Ebbets Field, Zygo, Hungry and Margaux.
