Icing by Claire’s and Claire’s are individual stores in River Ridge Mall, Lynchburg, Virginia. They are sister stores that are owned by the parent company, Claire’s Boutique Inc. Claire’s targets buyers aged preteen to young adult. Icing by Claire’s is aimed more at shoppers who are in their 20s.
Having gone a long time without wearing earrings, I needed to have one of the holes in my ear re-pierced. I decided to go to Claire’s to have this done. I explained at length to the sales associate that I only needed one ear to be punched since the hole in the other ear was fine. But that I was going to buy a set of earrings and just put the earring in the other hole myself. She gave me the forms, and I moved to the side to fill them out.
As more customers entered the store, she hollered at the other girl that she had dropped something on the floor. Completely confused, the other girl merely responded that she wasn’t aware of dropping anything. She seemed a bit upset by this as well. The only explanation she received was being told she’d find out if she got out from behind the counter.
I was horrified by this exchange. Not only was she publicly treating the girl badly, but this awful woman was able to take an ear gun to my ear. More importantly was that she needed to hit the target where the hole used to be. My instincts were screaming at me to leave.
Going into the back to get the earrings, the mean associate grabbed the other associate and they both went into the back room. As I was waiting in the chair for her to return, a line of customers was forming at the register. People started talking to each other wondering if the employees were even in the store. I told them that they were in the back, but that didn’t stop the people who were clearly growing angry. After about eight minutes, I got up and took the forms off the clipboard, and left with my forms.
Still needing to have my ear pierced again, I walked down to Icing by Claire’s. The associate was in the process of doing an eleven year old little girl’s ears. The girl was a little frightened, but the associate was really good with her.
When it was my turn, she was really nice to me as well. She re-pierced my one ear and even hit the target. I was really impressed. I did feel rushed to get the other earring in my other ear that didn’t need re-punching. I even commented that I felt rushed, and she admitted that she was rushing me as if that was okay.
I called Claire’s toll-free number to report what I had witnessed at the Claire’s store. It turned out that the one associate was actually training the other associate. It was a few years ago that this happened, but I still don’t like those stores.
