Claire’s expected to return to UK high streets this summer with plans for 50 new stores
The jewellery and accessories chain is expected to return to UK high streets with about 50 stores to be reopened from June onwards
Accessories chain Claire's is set for a return to UK high streets this summer according to new plans emerging just days after the closure of its final UK stores.
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The plans suggest stores will reopen from June onwards.
Julien Jarjoura, a French entrepreneur behind jewellery company Une Ligne, said he had the blessing of US brand owner, Ames Watson, to open stores in the UK - and was already signing new leases.
"The brand was basically dead and we’re bringing it back to life," said Jarjoura.
The news comes just days after all 154 of its UK stores closed their doors, causing more than 1,300 job losses and bringing more than three decades on British high streets to a close.
Jarjoura, who already runs about 240 Claire's stores across Europe, previously tried to buy the chain in January.
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Speaking on the closures, he said the brand had suffered from a lack of investment in both stores and products "that were not right for the UK".
“A lot of people think Claire’s is a British brand. It is extremely famous in the UK and there is no way it is going away."
He added that there would "definitely be some brand repositioning”, but conceded that it would “take a bit of time to bring back the customers."
The new plans, first reported in the Guardian, aim to reopen four to 10 stores a week in the UK from June.
Jarjoura has reportedly hired some of Claire’s former UK executives in the UK, but has not taken on the head office in Birmingham or bought any old stock from administrators.
Claire's was originally founded in Chicago in 1961, and arrived in the UK in 1996 through the acquisition of accessories chain Bow Jangles.