Claire’s Accessories

I went to Claire’s to get my ears double-​pierced. I’d had a previous experience with Claire’s back in the early 2000s, but I was eager to see what it would be like as an adult.
I shouldn’t have worried. The moment I walked in, I was greeted by friendly staff and some bumpin’ tunes. At about 150 beats per minute, the pulse of the store’s loud music matched my own as I thought about the tiny gold harpoons that would soon be shot through the white whales of my earlobe flesh. There was even a cheery sign declaring that SHOPLIFTERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. It was so fun to feel like a preteen again and get to relive the best years of my life!
The store’s color palate was entirely pastel with splashes of neon pink here and there. It clearly adhered to typical gendered color divisions, with a small section of camo rubber bracelets (think Livestrong before Lance was discredited) for the brothers who’d doubtless been dragged along.
The friendliness of the staff channeled my nerves to excitement. We were helped by Elisa and Princess Theresa. Elisa immediately told me that my eyes were «very nice, attractive, cool-​strange.» She noted that «people pay a lot of money to wear that color [as contact lenses].» «Hey, Theresa, check out her eyeballs!» she called to her colleague. Theresa had come from her other job as a ballgown-​wearing, ear-​piercing royal.
While waiting my turn, I got into the spirit, browsing the merchandise and impulse-​purchasing a case of glittery eye shadow («Eye Glitz»)! There was one section of the store casually dedicated to cultural appropriation. However, not being Native American myself, I did not have a problem with it, but I could see how some people might be offended. As a side note, all the prices were in Canadian dollars as well, which I did find very off-​putting.
I then filled out a bunch of release forms waiving my right to sue in case of botched piercing, or death. Be sure you read the forms they give you carefully if you’re not the only pre-​teen or pre-​tender in the store. At one point, there was only one clipboard in circulation and I accidentally initialed on someone else’s forms. I could have been consenting to a labia piercing on some little girl’s behalf for all I knew! But I was in luck, they only do ear piercings (I asked): no noses, eyebrows, nips, or gages.
Finally it was my turn. The piercing station was located just to the right of the store’s main entrance. The only drawback was that there wasn’t much privacy, which I noticed when I almost burst into tears from fear. Princess Theresa of the Small Feet assured me the instruments and posts were sterile and gamely tried to draw the dots larger to approximate the size the stone would be in my ear when I asked. «I am satisfied,» I told her.
The gun made a noise like a little stapler. Apparently they haven’t done any R&D since 1999. On my second ear, Princess Theresa was almost jostled by a very rude woman who was walking into the store as Theresa was piercing on the left side, rude! I could have been blinded! But the princess wasn’t to blame, the store layout was.
Theresa (by now I felt we were on more intimate terms) handed me a mirror. «It looks perfect!» I said. I walked out a satisfied customer, feeling both more youthful and more beautiful. 5 stars!

I got my ear lobes re-​pierced last week at Claire’s and had such a wonderful experience. The technician– Alisa was so caring, thoughtful, and took her time with me eventhough the store was busy and packed with customers. She could tell I was nervous, and totally took the time to make me feel at ease. Honestly, Alisa personally made this experience a good one. I’m SO glad she was there. I highly recommend Alisa to any girl’s or their daughter’s looking to get their ears pierced too. Try to go at a less busy time, like after school during the week. Thanks Alisa! You’re the best!

I am extremely disgusted with your business to be honest my daughter last week gor her ears pierced for her second hole. And the next week she woke up with two swollen ears and her piercing were inside her lobe. We went to the doctor’s to take it out. I asked of it was infected and she said «the earing was not sanitized and since she cleaned it the earing was not clean at all. It was just cheap and tacky» i am disgusted with claires and i deserve money back from you guys. Even when my daughter had to have surgery just for that. You are not good business

My 5 year old recently had her ears pierced by Theresa and she did a wonderful job!!! She was thorough in explaining how to clean/​care for the ears and very diligent in making sure the piercings were perfectly placed.

Recently I took my 14 year old daughter to Claire’s to have her ears pierced for the first time. Nancy M. did an amazing job of piercing my daughter’s ears and guiding us through the experience. She was a delightful person and helpful with the questions we had. Great selection of earrings, very sterile, Nancy was efficient and warm. We can’t recommend her highly enough!

I just got my ear pierced by Briana and she is amazing. She was super nice to talk to and was even willing to stay a little past closing to pierce my ear. I would highly recommend! Thank you!!!

Took my daughter into Claire’s yesterday to get her ears pierced. We very pleased with our experience with Briana. She took the time to explain everything to my daughter and put her nervousness at ease.
Every thing was clean and sterile, no worries with how the piercing is conducted. Great selection in choosing earrings for piercing.
I’d recommend Claire’s and Briana to anyone for ear piercing.

So, I took my special needs’ daughter today to get her ears pierced at Claire’s. I was very nervous about the whole thing, but I decided that it’s worth a try. A long story short: Brianna and Marjory were beyond great. Once I let Marjory know my daughter’s circumstance, she said, «Not a problem.» They put her at ease immediately and did a quick and fantastic job! They even gave her a «high-​5» and a lollipop when it was over. The price was very good, and I received an extra 20% off the earrings PLUS buy 3, get 3 free! You just can’t beat that. Thanks, ladies. My daughter can now wear beautiful earrings for Christmas!

Totally frustrating experience at Claire’s today. We arrived and immediately started the application to get our 8 year old daughters ears pierced. There was one customer ahead of us that was getting her ears pierced at that time. I noticed that the girl piercing the customers ears was very sweet, but very chatty and took a long time to finish. We were next and another employee helped us pick out the earrings for our daughter.
While we were waiting, a young teenager, her friend and her mother arrived. A manager asked the employee who was helping us which customer was next and the employee said the young teenager. She then proceeded to take the other customer to the piercing area and began to pierce her ears. She took about a half hour, chatting, posing for pictures and giggling with her apparent friend while we waited.
Shame on me for not saying anything, but management might need to conduct some training regarding focus, efficiency (especially with a busy crowd), and most importantly, customers are not blind.
Two stars for the employee that ended up piercing my daughters ears. (Young blond with short hair), otherwise no stars for our experience today.

I bought around $ 100 worth of hair accessories for a wedding, down in San Jose. The staff at valley fair were beyond helpful & reassured me that I’d be able to return the ones I didn’t use. Anything taken out of the packaging they wouldn’t be able to return. Which I totally understood– I work in the hair industry, I get it. I came to this location to return the ones I didn’t use. The lady Elisa accused me of using more than half of them, and that I broke of a huge flower off one of them. Which wasn’t the case. All the ones I didn’t use I kept in the same bag in which I purchased them in, along with the receipt. One of the hair things showed a pearl was missing, and I pointed out that it was still in the bag, that I wasn’t even able to use it because it didn’t last long enough to put in someone’s hair! She ended up returning all except 2 of the hair things bc «I broke them off”– I told her picked these ones out bc they were simple & not over the top… That they never had a huge thing on them. She was rude, maybe if she had customer service skills I wouldn’t be so bitter about it.

Just took munchkin to get her ears pierced for the first time. What a great experience! Marjorie (sp?) took care of us. She was super nice, fun and made my girl feel totally comfortable. She did the piercing like she’d done it a thousand times. Very clean! Everything that touched my child was either sterilized in front of me or disposable or both. Kiddo is super thrilled and protective parent is too!

My husband and I took our six year old daughter to this Claire’s location this past weekend to get her ears pierced. The staff was great. They were friendly, attentive, very helpful and very kind. Elisa was WONDERFUL with our daughter, who really wanted her ears pierced, but was feeling pretty nervous. We are very happy that we chose Claire’s at Hillsdale!
Tip: I called ahead to make sure that there would be two people who could pierce that day, so we were able to have both ears pierced at the same time.

I am reviewing the ear piercing services and general attitude of the staff. I think a business like this that has such a high volume of customers should be more friendly when things don’t go well for their clients. My daughter had her ears pierced twice there at ages 14 and 16. The first time the earring became embedded in her lobe while she slept at night and we had to take her to the minor injury clinic at the hospital to have it surgically removed. The second time, over a year later, we mentioned the problem we had the first time and they blamed her. Since I really do think my daughter was caring for them properly (its not rocket science) this rather rubbed me and my daughter the wrong way. The girl working the piercings there was really full of herself, she called me ‘dear’ and was entirely patronizing. Nonetheless I paid again to have them done, and this time the gem stone FELL out of the earring in the first 2 weeks. These earrings cost about $ 50. They did not take any responsibility, offer a replacement or discount on a single earring, and were rude, in fact, I think they enjoyed the drama of saying no and ticking me off. That is it for me now, I won’t be shopping there again or using their services. If you do, SAVE your receipt so you can come and get your money back!

I went in today to get my second piercing for both ears. I received the best customer service from Andi (or Andy). She’s an amazing employee who kept me calm during the whole process. Since I already had my ears pierced when I was young I wasn’t sure if I would be okay with the pain for this one. She kept me calm by keeping the conversation going, and she was very thorough to make sure that everything was right. I’m so happy with my piercings! I would highly recommend her as well as this store. :)

Our young daughter got her ears pierced by Hannah this past week. The store was very busy, but Hannah took the time and care to make our daughter completely comfortable and at ease. Hannah also took great care in marking the ear to ensure that the piercing looked perfect. Hannah, thank you so much!

A ear piercing trip foiled by an unfriendly and uncaring sales associate. Meh!
Not quite sure what happened this morning, Sunday, August 26^th when I called to inquire about ear piercing for my daughter. First, I couldn’t get anyone to answer the phone for 30+ minutes starting at 11 am. Finally someone answered at 11:30 am and unfortunately did not identify who they were.
I asked if anyone would be in the store who could do the ear piercing today and she replied, «Yes — we do ear piercing.» Hmmm, that was not my question, I am already aware of this and wanted to verify that someone would be there before I made the trip to Hillsdale. She then caught on and replied, «Yes and anyone in the store can do ear piercing.» Great — now we are getting somewhere right?! Heh heh
I then go on to ask if they have all been doing the procedures for a long time and she replied, «Yea, sort of.» Ummm OK, so that’s a yes or no? I found the following advice on an unrelated website, «Find out when the piercer was trained and how many piercings she does in an average day. Ideally, choose someone who’s been performing at least three to five piercings per day for a year.» That’s what I was attempting to do, but apparently the associate didn’t think it was important.
At this point I decided that her lack of professionalism on the phone was a definite red flag and not someone that I was going to allow to shoot an earring through my daughter’s ear. If she couldn’t be confident in telling me how long each person has been been with the store and performing the procedure then how could I trust her to be confident in the ability to provide my daughter with the care needed if something should go wrong – now I realize the likely hood of that happening if pretty slim, but these are the things parents need to be cognizant of when making a decision that does have an impact on their health. I’ve read plenty of reviews of children having problems beyond infections.
So I thank her politely and she hangs up on me! Not even a thank you! Yea — that validated my decision to not visit this Claire’s location EVER again and that’s sad cause we’ve been coming here for at least the past 12 years. I would have to agree with other reviewers about something being wrong with the customer service.
A great sales associate would have either explained the training each team member has had or if they weren’t able to, put me in touch with someone that could. In addition, a great sales associate would have invited me into the store to increase the likely hood that I would go through with the procedure and in return purchase other merchandise at the same time right!!!
My daughter and her Aunt will just find somewhere else to have this done. I read about tattoo shops being safer for ear piercing anyways, as they can fully sterilize the needle, as opposed to Claires that uses the gun method. Piercing guns are usually made with plastic and cannot be sterilized in an autoclave. How much are they learning in a 2 week training course anyways?
It’s surprising how far a little customer service can go or is it? Shouldn’t it be expected that when I say thank you to a sales associate they should meet my thank you and raise it with, you’re welcome?!

Went for my second daughter’s ears and had a good experience again.

The best claires in the bay. Many people I know would agree with me.
This store has great selection and it’s pretty big so not as crowded as others .
Very nice service and genuine people. Some stores you just don’t really like the associates you know? But here they are always great

Oh Claire’s… I, too, have frequented this location for at least a decade now from my youth until somewhat recently. It’s a staple location at the mall but not really for any reason other than being the place that girls + teeny-​boppers go to get their cheapo-​quality girly goods… hair accessories, kiddy make-​up, cutesy earrings, cell-​phone dangles, keychains, etc.
At large, Claire’s is known as one of the most popular places to get your ears pierced because it’s a convenient location, + they will do it for the cost of a pair of their starter earring studs, which varies depending on what kind of metal /​stone you want. Waaay back when I had my ears pierced, it was w/​some surgical steel w/​cubic zirconium studs for about $ 36. Not too bad + my piercings turned out fine.
They’re fairly dependable for having a little bit of everything, but don’t count on any of it being quality goods. I come here now of days because I need allergy-​safe earrings, which aren’t too easy to come by without having to pay a good chunk of change for pure-​metal earrings at other stores. The «sensitive solutions» that they have here are of good enough variety that I can find what I want for about $ 7 a pair, but they only last a few months before they either break or start turning funny colors due to the poor quality of the metal.
And as Cat C says, the service is not professional at all. The same ladies have worked that store for years now + their mediocre, negligent standards of customer service have never changed… consisting primarily of hanging around the register + not actively being helpful or friendly to the customers at any extent. Neh.

Been coming here over the years to buy cheap earrings for myself or others. The last time I came here was before Halloween to buy the last accessory for my costume. One of the girls who rang me up. who I was shocked to find out that she was an assistant manager was so not customer-​service friendly. She did not greet me or even thank me even after I said thank you, and the whole time during the transaction she was talking to one of her co-​workers about some guy or whatever. I’ve worked in retail for many years; it’s okay to talk to your co-​workers but you need to acknowledge the customer you have in front of you.
I went back today with one of my friends because she wanted to pick up some stuff and it seems like things have gotten worse. Assistant managers were drinking at the register in front of a fat line of customers and gossiping and screaming across the place. And I think it was the store manager who was pretty much doing all the screaming and acting goofy, thought most of the time I see her she sees more attentive towards customers.
I know that it’s mostly pre-​teen and teen girls that shop at Claire’s but store employees should still act professional regardless. It still gets two stars for the little girls out there who want and need cheap earrings and jewelry, and because one of the assistant managers who rang up my friend today was actually nice to her, unlike the one I got a few months ago.