Right?! I thought about mentioning the bright lighting and glass walls that make all the products visible. Or the window clings advertising ear piercings.

Anyway, thanks for validating my thoughts… I was very confused by the person I responded to and thought maybe the gender divide was greater than I thought, lol.

Good for you! When I got a second piercing I knew better and went somewhere they used a hollow needle instead of a gun.

A mall in my state has TWO Claire’s in it. It is one of the most bizarre traits of the mall, second only to the fact that to get to half of the mall you have to walk through a JC Penney.

This is so bizarrely different from my experience. I would bet 90% of women in my generation (millennial) who ever spent time in a mall think of Claire’s as the default place to get your ears pierced. And naturally then, to get new earrings or other jewelry.

As a teen, it was a default stop on the mall circuit every weekend; it’s where my sister and I both got our ears pierced when we turned 13, and where I got jewelry for prom and BFF keychains with friends before going off to college. I was far from popular; I was the nerd who sat at the front of the bus and read a book to avoid my bullies, etc. I only even had friends to go to the mall with as a teen because I went to a college preparatory high school where almost everyone else was a nerd, too. But despite my lowly status on the social totem pole, Claire’s was a staple.