On their closing sign: Claire's blaming the "radical left" for shutting down
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1nyb8jp/oc_the_claires_in_my_town_closed_down_and_this_is/
Well they’re halfway correct. Having your company bought by private equity and sold for parts is domestic economic terrorism, but that’s not left wing. It’s right wing.
I don't actually think this is real because I don't think any evil lefty liberals have ever thought about Claire's in their entire lives.
If it was a list of companies that I wanted to see destroyed Claire's wouldn't even be in the top 500 mostly because they just sell plastic junk and other than being generally crap don't do anything overly objectionable.
You’re probably right.
-Capitalists buy your company and gut it to line their pockets
"How could the radical left do this to us?"
Lmao. Is the radical left in the room with us?
It's those radical left private equity firms!
Yep, I'm here. Don't know at what point wanting healthcare for all made me a radical, but here we are. Guess I should go practice hating on minorities and denying science. :(
Psssst, here's a little tip. The ultra wealthy are a minority. Go hate with a clear conscience.
Wait am I doing this right?
Gasp! It’s the president of antifa!
the mythical "radical left" of the democratic party.
All while admitting that shareholders were their top priority.
And then asking those who still support them to buy online... where no one local will benefit.
Well, they weren't a co-op, or a non profit. They are a private company whose reason for existence is to make as much fucking money as possible. I'm a believer in "good" companies, decent, like many B corps, but the fact is that almost always, all investors care about is money.
I call shenanigans on this picture.
That reddit post is the only source. It's in a mall. Even if those are real pieces of paper and a real picture of one of them, it would be elementary for some chode looking for internet points and lulz to stage it.
I'm curious to know the logic behind putting up three of these signs on the front of the same closed store, when you didn't have enough pieces of tape to hang them all and had to use a piece of tape from something else.
Also the "thank you for your attention on this matter" feels too on the nose
I had to scroll way too far to find someone questioning the legitimacy of this picture. I don't buy it.
I’m inclined to agree. I believe this is a parody of This but I can’t say 100% either way
It's so obvious that the funniest part has now become the outraged response!
There is a good chance of this, and internet detectives have already pulled up some evidence. I’ll see if I can find it.
There's a comment in this thread that explains it.
Why?
A lot of it is just way too out there but this part in particular is just too... I don't know. Unbelievable that it would come from any corporate entity (even today), and almost identical to satirical criticisms of capitalism.
Potecting the stability of its shareholders was prioritized and this store -and its workforce- were deemed expendable.
Claire's is a company that is entirely dependent on a strong middle class.
When people are struggling, the very first budget item that gets cut in every family are overpriced rhinestones and lip gloss.
Oligarchs: What's a middle class? All I know is the working class and, us, the upper class.
If anything, the idea of a "middle class" benefits oligarchs as a buffer between them and everyone else who has to work for a living.
I have no idea what they sold...
Thank you for your attention to this matter
...And now I don't care.
They sell unsafe piercings by untrained staff with piercing guns and jewelry nobody should ever wear.
Ah. Seems like an obvious place for regulatory oversight, but since the US doesn't have that I suppose the free market will have to do. For once, that actually worked as intended.
Yeah I hate the state of politics in the US as much as the next leftist right now but this is very fake. Not "doctored photo" fake, but "someone fabricated this document for clout" fake
Thank you. Fuck people are so stupidly willing to accept any idiotic presentation as real as long as it aligns with their righteous anger.
It is taped to the outside of the glass. Anybody could have put it there
Impossible! Fake news. This comment thread is now closed due to radical leftist wokie terrorists. Thanks, Obama!
"THE RADICAL LEFT IS MAKING FUN OF OUR DECISION TO SPEND 78% OF OUR FISCAL BUDGET ON NOVELTY HATS! BECAUSE OF THIS TERRORISM WE HAVE TO SHUT OUR DOORS!"
Domestic Economic Terrorism! Like, not buying our products! They will have to protect the shareholders and cut down on locations and staff.
Lol there's so much wrong with this.
The ridiculousness of the phrase "domestic economic terrorism" especially when it's being attributed to "ridicule by radical left agitators". And then the actual reason they're closing is because of private equity and shareholders, but obviously they can't place any blame on the sacred capitalists.
Also, ”rooted in values of family and community"? You're the place where 10 year old girls get their ears pierced by untrained 16 year olds. It's a business rooted in the American value of offering the cheapest possible products created for the purpose of breaking and being thrown into a landfill so you can go buy another.
All around a complete lack of self awareness. Get woke asshole, then you might not go broke.
They pierce ears and sell cosmetics to teenagers
Piece ears badly. They're famous for using piecing guns with untrained/poorly trained high schoolers doing it. And all of their product are temu level junk since before temu ever existed.
The target age of Claire’s is lower than teenager. 10-15 mostly. There’s a Claire’s in my local mall that has prepubescent girls plastered on the walls as advertisement.
they sell imitation jewelry to little girls.
That's a shit ton of words just to say "we suck"
anyone could have taped up that piece of paper.
Yeah. If it were legit it’d be on the other side of the gate.
Hey guys I didn’t get the memo about shitting on Claire’s until they go out of business. Can someone forward it? Hail Soros
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I think it’s an allegory to the government shutdown
Yeah there's absolutely no reason that they would post this. They would just shut down there's no need to print off an explanation, who cares
Real or Not. A world with less Claire's isn't a bad thing. Store is straight trash anyways
Not sure if this is real or not, but you'll often see companies blaming all sorts of things when they shut down, often whatever generic "bad thing" was last mentioned in local or domestic news. This is because the owners really want it to be someone else's fault and not themselves messing up how they ran their business.
But it invariably is. Had to shut down due to too much theft or burglaries? Tough shit, dealing with crime is part of running a business, and I don't see the businesses on either side of you shutting down. Maybe you should have paid more attention to how loss affected your margins.
Cory Doctorow needs to know about this new term Domestic Economic Terrorism. I feel like it fits with his Felony Contempt of Business Model.
Can someone confirm this is real? Or just another product of an international troll farm?
Yeah this seems like it was written by a troll to me. The first paragraph calling out leftist "domestic economic terrorism", immediately followed by the second paragraph calling the workers "expendable" and admitting they're trying to "protect the stability of the shareholders", and then ending with "thank you for your attention to this matter", Trump's social media calling card. It all feels a little too on the nose, like when conservatives try to do sarcasm or irony.
"thank you for your attention to this matter" is a lil sus too lol
Define "real"
I guarantee it's not an official message from the company. If for no other reason, they explicitly stated the employees are expendable. Companies are never that forthright about that language.
But it could be a laid off manager griping, a laid off employee, and since it's on the outside of the story, anyone could have taped it up so it doesn't have to be actually related to being employed by Claire's.
Of course it could be also purely for the Internet.
So no, it's not 'real', is it digitally faked? Possibly but why bother, it's a piece of paper printed out and taped to a storefront, easy enough to just do it. Is it a sincere rant from an employee or a customer? Possibly. Is it purely a joke? I think this is most likely.
It's /r/pics so it's 50/50.
So far I think it's real, this guy got fired from claire's and has been posting all their communications since:
Claire's is that crappy overpriced jewelry company, right? They only made sense when teenage girls went to the mall frequently, and I'm pretty sure that's not a thing anymore.
Instead of blaming "radical left extremists" or whatever, blame your crappy products. Who is your target market and how can you effectively reach them?
I would like to know what the radical left did. I know of no campaign against them.
I doubt anything was done, everyone is being tighter with their money and that junk isn't a priority, couple that with the projection from the "delusional right" where it is always someone else's fault even though it is their rhetoric.
Its clear a large number of people don't know their right from their left.
So two things, firstly they are not a exclusively American company, they are globally diversified, so if they are financial problems it's not a uniquely American issue, and secondly who goes into a Claire's anyway.
As far as I know the only product they sell that anyone would be remotely interested in is ear piercings, no one over the age of about 15 ever been in a Claire's ever.
Ah yes, ear piercings, get your ears stabbed by an untrained teenager with a piercing tool.
My wife recently put a couple extra piercings in each ear, herself, with a temu piercing gun. Only one infection out of the four. I call that a win.
Okay, so I poked around in the orignal thread and came up with some context.
Three weeks ago, this guy on IG used to work for Claires, got fired for posting studies showing most mass shooters are right wing, and has since been posting the threatening letters and recording calls from Clairs Corperate they keep sending asking for him to stfu. This specific closed branch was his formerstore! They do also accuse him personally of being a domestic economic terrorist. lol
Blaming the "radical left" is still a batshit crazy thing to write/think/announce, but at least we can see how corporate greed ghouls got there.
Who are they? Sounds like they are racist bigoted trash. Sounds like people voted with their feet and left them out on the street.
Claire's was a chain of American jewelry stores focusing on the extremely-inexpensive end of the market. A common feature of malls back in the day, if you wanted a super cheap pair of clip-on earrings or something, that looked silver but probably wasn't, Claire's is where you went.
Their actual financial difficulties likely stem from the decline of malls, as foot traffic past their window was probably the main source of customers.
Sounds like Hobby Lobby for bikes. "Christian values" when they justify denying workers benefits or pay; "shareholder value" when they justify denying Christian charity.
"Domestic Economic Terrorism" 🤣
Is "domestic economic terrorism" MAGA for boycott?
Not even, it's just mean words on the Internet.
Not saying this isn't real, but it looks fake as hell. The letter clarity is fantastic and oddly well lit
Even if not digitally faked, how hard would it be to print out a sheet of paper and scotch tape it to some glass?
This especially embarrassing since they just blamed Trump’s Tarriffs a couple months ago.
On July 9, 2025, Claire's warned that it would be considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its U.S. operations for the second time in 7 years. The company blamed declining consumer demand, rising import costs caused by President Donald Trump’s U.S. tariffs and heavy debt as a result of the decision.
Eat shit Claire’s, selling cheap crap and piercing ears poorly isn’t a business model.
Uh, that business model had done quite well since I was a teen in the 80s.
under new private equity ownership
That's all you need to know.
Right, private equity bought it because it’s a distressed asset. Claire’s filed for bankruptcy in 2018 already. They’ve been struggling for years.
Making it into a “conservative” culture issue seems like something a vulture capitalist would do.
Not the 30 years of 11 year old girls shop lifting
Coming back to say a few days later claims were "completely fraudulent."
Bloody radical lefties! Not wanting to buy a load of Temu level tat that leaves green marks on your skin at 800% markup is commie talk!
Hold up, is this the same Claire's I used to get pride merch from?
Fuck these lying capitalist pigs.
I used to steal ‘jewelry’ from them as a kid.
The ONLY way to STOP these Radical Leftist Shareholder CEOS from CLOSING our Store is to REMOVE any and All Protections and Rights we Had!
ahh the call of the loser.
Anytime you see an ambersand in a paragraph you know you're dealing with an idiot
Holy shit that’s cold. Ignoring the whole radical left bs, that’s insane callousness. Imagine veing the poor minimum wage employee that had to put that sign up before clocking out for the last time.
Saying the quiet part out loud again. This is the only honest sentence in that whole excretion of doublespeak.
it's such an insane own goal that i thought it had to be satire, but the rest of it really does track with bailout-seeking behavior from private equity ghouls
"Yeah, I made sure to lock up before I left, the fire alarm and security system were all running fine, and as nearby CCTV cameras will show I left the building and headed in the direction of home, I have no idea what could have caused the electrical issues that made them both stop functioning right before the store burned down. Of course since I lost my job, it's not really MY problem, now is it? click"
I want a Bluetooth physical phone so I can slam the receiver down and hang up with flair
"And no, I don't know the last location of the red Swingline stapler."
It's very likely this is just bullshit. Sadly believable, but still bullshit.
Perhaps this former employee also wrote/edited and printed that sign themselves before hanging it up as a form of protest. Either way it exposes what‘s happening behind the corpo speech very well.