The store in Smith Street, opposite Lloyds Bank, has been a fixture in St Peter Port’s shopping centre for more than 20 years.
Earlier this week, administrators agreed to sell 156 of the fashion accessory shop’s 306 stores in the UK and Ireland to investment group Modella Capital.
However, Guernsey’s store, alongside other branches in the Crown Dependencies, was not part of the deal.
Investment firm Modella Capital also bought more than 480 WH Smith stores in March, including the one in the Pollet.
A spokeswoman for the joint administrators said the priority remained to assess all of the options available for the Claire’s stores which did not transfer to Modella as part of the transaction announced on 29 September.
‘In the meantime, however, we have commenced closing down sales in each of the stores in order to sell the remaining stock,’ she said.
Guernsey’s shop had a sign offering half price throughout the store, however a sign in the window stated that items bought prior to the appointment of administrators could now not be refunded.
A Guernsey Retail Group spokesman said it was always disappointing when any retailer chose to close its doors.
‘This decision appears to be part of a broader restructuring of the Claire’s business, affecting more than 140 stores,’ he said.
‘We have reached out to the local team to offer our support.’
The company began in 1961 in Chicago as a wig company.
It then acquired a 25-store jewellery chain, Claire’s, in 1973, and shifted focus to fashion accessories, introducing ear piercing in 1978.
It rapidly expanded through acquisitions to become the world’s largest fashion accessory retailer by the 1990s.
However changes in shopping habits, especially in the US, led the company to face multiple bankruptcies in the late 2010s and 2020s.
It went into administration in the UK and Ireland on 13 August, and sold its North American business to a private equity firm for £77m. later that month.
Administrators have also secured a sale of the Claire’s business in Switzerland, however the fate of other Claire’s entities in France, Italy and Poland still remain to be decided.
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