Claire’s Scrubs Plans to Go Public Amid Shaky IPO Market

Teen-centric jewelry and accessory retailer Claire’s has scrapped its plan to go public.

The company had filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2021, but withdrew that application in a new filing last week, saying it had “decided not to proceed with the offering at this time.”

PYMNTS has contacted Claire’s for comment but has not yet received a reply.

The retailer’s decision comes at a time when the market for IPOs is somewhat uncertain, as rising interest rates and inflation dampen demand for new listings.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, traditional IPOs raised around $9 billion in the first half of 2022. That figure is higher than last year’s, but still below the $87 billion and $24 billion companies had generated at the halfway points of 2021 and 2020.

“We’re in an IPO market that’s not fully open yet. We’re in rebuilding mode,” Douglas Adams, Citigroup’s global co-head of equity capital markets, told the WSJ. “Rebuilding modes generally aren’t a straight line.”

As PYMNTS wrote when Claire’s originally filed its IPO paperwork, a public offering was a potential fresh start for the retailer, saddled with debt from a private equity takeover. The company had declared bankruptcy in 2018.

However, Claire’s was facing an uphill battle in that it — by its own admission — was at a disadvantage on the eCommerce front.

“Many of our competitors have eCommerce businesses that are substantially larger and more developed than ours, which may place us at a competitive disadvantage,” Claire’s said in its regulatory filing.

Recent years have seen Claire’s undertake a pair of partnerships with other, larger, retailers. In September of 2022, the company expanded its four-year-old collaboration with Walmart, putting its products in 2,500 Walmart stores, along with the Walmart website and at 360 Claire’s stores-within-stores at some Walmart locations.

The retailers said their partnership allows Claire’s to extend its “experience-driven shopping environment” and piercing services to new shoppers while helping Walmart make a name for itself as a destination for fashion. In 2021, Claire’s was recognized as Walmart’s top vendor for jewelry and accessories.

Two months later, Claire’s teamed with Macy’s to establish 20 new store-in-store locations, a partnership the companies said was designed to give Claire’s another omnichannel retail partner and expands its retail footprint.

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