Another High Street victim: Claire’s Accessories appoints administrators

August 19, 2025

Another High Street victim: Claire’s Accessories appoints administrators

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By Kate Heaney

Read time: 2 minutes

The UK arm of Claire’s Accessories is the latest brand to fall victim to the demise of the British high street after it filed notice of intention to appoint administrators last week. The announcement comes shortly after Claire’s US and Canada filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

The jewellery and accessories retailer has been popular with children and teenagers for decades, but now faces a risk of closure having suffered huge financial losses over the last few years.

The proposed joint administrators will likely take appointment imminently, continuing to trade through the administration, which could mean Claire’s shops will remain open for now as they consider options for the future of the business.

Claire’s is unfortunately following in the footsteps of other well-known high street names that have suffered a similar fate. This trend doesn’t look set to shift any time soon, with reports of other high street businesses such as Apple, River Island, New Look and Poundland struggling to overcome the current economic threats to their business and closing shops down across the UK.

How does a company go in to administration and what does it mean when it does?

When a company doesn’t have sufficient assets to cover its debts, or if it can’t pay its debts as they fall due, the company may be facing insolvency and appointing administrators is one of the routes that can be taken. There are three ways in which it can be achieved:

• By court order
• Appointment by a qualifying floating charge holder
• Appointment by the company or its directors (the route currently being taken by Claire’s UK)

Whichever route is adopted, the administrators are appointed to take financial control of the business. This will include making day-to-day decisions and seeking to either:

• Rescue the business as a going concern via a sale
• Achieve a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole than would be likely if the company took alternative insolvency routes such as liquidation
• Realise assets sufficient to make a distribution to one or more secured or preferential creditors

Once in administration, creditors cannot bring legal action against the company to wind it up so it can provide some breathing space whilst the administrators attempt to salvage the business.

If you have concerns that your company may not be able to cover its debts or are uncertain about your company’s future and need any help or advice on any of the above, please contact one of our insolvency specialists on  02920 829 100 for a free initial chat or via our Contact Us form.