Why Claire's "Gets It" and Most Retailers Simply Do Not...

Last night was Christmas shopping time, yes, very last minute. Myself, my aunt, my cousin, and our friend showed up at the mall knowing we had about an hour until closing. Within 15 minutes or less of getting there we found ourselves in Claire's. The next thing I realized, the mall was announcing they were closing in five minutes. We had spent over 40 minutes in Claire's without me even realizing it. My 12 year old cousin and I were basically just being goofy, trying on crazy weird fake glasses, my aunt was playing with fake rings, as was our friend. I was looking at a cell phone hugger half price that caught my eye, and a really cool paint-splattered baseball cap (that I ended up buying). My cousin bought a piano wallet for her piano-teaching sister. The management and employees are all really cool about you just hanging out in their store - and every Claire's seems the same. This has always impressed me as a company that just "gets it" about what makes people buy. Fun, funky, girly, and really friendly. That pretty much sums up Claire's.

However, I learned today that Claire's has taken this to a new level, with their "Bling Your BFF" contest. In this contest, you're encouraged to goof around in the store, try stuff on, take a picture with your BFFs, and send it in for a chance to win $250, a limo ride, and your 15 minutes of fame in their advertising. We wanted to do it, but my cousin is 12 so it couldn't happen, you have to be 13 or older - everyone in the picture has to be (no doubt due to COPPA...).

Contrast this to your average paranoid store that freaks out when they see you with a cell phone camera even out of fear you might be a spy trying to steal their store's look, feel, whatever. Like Wal-Mart which kicked out our church youth group a few years back for videoing in the store (uh, it was a youth group video project). Or Target, which certainly does everything they can to make people, especially young people, feel like unwanted criminals the whole time they're in the store (note, this has got FAR better in the last two years - it used to just feel like an insult to my humanity to shop at Target). Or Best Buy, who are always trying to push you to buy or leave and are just rude, nasty, and arrogant the whole time (note - I have several great friends who work for Best Buy and for Target and they're all wonderful people, these are management attitudes that get passed down - I don't blame the average workers *at all*).

Is it any wonder you can't go into any (normal, not fancy upscale stuff) shopping mall in the world and NOT find a Claire's? I don't think so. Claire's is pricey and kinda junky costume accessories. But when you can make a store primarily targeted at pre-teen girls somewhere fun enough that an adult guy hanging out with his cousins doesn't realize 40 minutes has passed by while goofing off looking around - and walk out with a really sweet hat that cost far too much and I realized it as I bought it - guess what, you've done something right. Congratulations Claire's.

P.S. On a local scale, I'll give the same congrats to Glacier Stationer's Hallmark Gold Crown; with the disclaimer that I used to work there - one summer, years ago, but still. It's not as *FUN* as Claire's obviously, but the general attitude and friendliness is quite similar. It was when I worked there and it still is. If anything it's got better... a couple people who weren't have left....