Blog 4

Claire's is a retailer that sells accessories such as jewelry, cosmetics, hair accessories, purses scarves and shoes.  It also offers ear piercing services.  As you could imagine, this is a very popular concept aimed at tweens.  Claire's stores are located in malls across America with some 18,000 employees.  They have done pretty good business in the past.

However, with the way that the economy has been in the past few years, sales have plummeted and the company has gone into substantial debt.  The famous private-equity firm, Apollo Management tried to save the company by buying it out for a hefty $3.1 billion in 2007.  They thought the market's status would improve but it didn't.  Now Claire's has followed another company, Linens 'N Things, which happens to be another Apollo company, and filed bankruptcy.

Sources:

Newman, Rick. "15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009." U.S. News and WorldReport 6 Feb 2009 4 Mar 2009 <http://www.usnews.com/mobile/blogs/flowchart/2009/2/6/15-companies-that-might-not-survive-2009.html>

McCracken, Jeffrey and O'Connell. "Wave of Bankruptcy Filings Expected From Retailers in Wake of Holidays." The Wall Street Journal 12 Jan 2009 6 Mar 2009