Claire's Stores Appoints Jay Friedman as President, North America

CHICAGO, Jan. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Claire's Stores, Inc., one of the world's leading specialty retailers of fashionable accessories and jewelry at affordable prices for young women, teens, tweens and girls ages 3 to 27, today announced the appointment of Jay Friedman as President of the North American Division, reporting to Gene Kahn, Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

In his position, Jay will lead both the Claire's and Icing businesses and will have direct oversight of buying, planning and allocation, supply chain, stores and overall operations of approximately 2,000 stores in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  His responsibilities will encompass coordinating the merchandise offense for each brand's target customers, improving allocation and replenishment techniques, driving improved store execution including an enhanced focus on our selling environment, and continuing the work required to build stronger customer relationships by improving the in-store experience, strengthening viral communications as well as launching Claire's e-commerce efforts during Fiscal 2011.

Jay will also be a key member of the Claire's Stores Corporate Senior Management Team and will participate in setting long-term global direction, will monitor progress towards our mid-term objectives and will drive short-term results. He joins Gene Kahn, CEO, Jim Conroy, President of Claire's Stores, and Kenny Wilson, President of the European Division as a member of the Global Executive Committee.

Jay joins Claire's from Jones Apparel Group, Inc. where he was most recently President, and Chief Executive Officer, Jones Retail Corp., Nine West Group. At Jones, Jay had earnings accountability for a 1,000 store division of Jones Apparel Group that successfully operated nine retail concepts and three web businesses. He was a contributor in developing their creative vision, priorities, and strategic business and merchandise plans. Jay was instrumental in executing the agreed upon strategies with innovative thinking, strong leadership skills and a wealth of retail experience.

Gene Kahn said, "Claire's North America is our largest division and a key driver of our results. We are excited to have Jay join us and believe his recent experience in specialty retail as well as 25+ years in operating large-scale, multi-unit businesses will help propel our business toward achieving our long-term objectives. Jay's strong merchandising acumen, his product affinity, specialty store operations experience and broad background in several senior level positions make him ideally suited to lead Claire's North America and to actively participate in the continued development of our Icing brand. Jay will lead a strong team of top tier performers, which includes a talented and experienced senior team, who have built a successful foundation and are delivering strong and consistently improving results.  I know that all of the members of our Corporate Senior Management Team and the entire North American Division look forward to working with him as we move forward into 2011."

Jay began his career as an Assistant Buyer in 1971 and successfully rose through the ranks at Macy's, Inc., May Company, and Dayton-Hudson Corporation, with succeeding promotions to Buyer, Divisional Merchandise Manager, Group Vice President and Senior Vice President General Merchandise Manager.  In 1997, Jay was appointed President, Footlocker USA, where he led the activities of the 1,600 store retail chain.  Prior to joining Jones Apparel Group Inc. in 2006, Jay held the position of Chief Operating Officer and President, Wholesale, for Etienne Aigner, a European leather-goods manufacturer that was a major supplier of footwear, handbags and accessories to various department stores.

"I am very excited to be joining as prominent and successful a company as Claire's Stores to lead the North American business. I look forward to learning the intricacies of the business, working directly with the North American senior leadership as well as the entire North American team, and partnering with the other senior leaders of the Company to achieve greater success with a strong spirit of collaboration and focus," said Jay Friedman. "I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to assume this role."

Company Overview

Claire's Stores, Inc. is one of the world's leading specialty retailers of fashionable accessories and jewelry at affordable prices for young women, teens, tweens and girls ages 3 to 27.  The Company operates through its two store concepts: Claire's® and Icing®, while the latter operates only in North America, Claire's operates worldwide.  As of October 30, 2010, Claire's Stores, Inc. operated 2,971 stores in North America and Europe.  The Company also franchised or licensed 398 stores in Japan, the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Greece, Guatemala and Malta.

Forward-looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs with respect to future events.  Statements that are not historical are considered forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.  Those factors include, without limitation: changes in consumer preferences and consumer spending; competition; our level of indebtedness; general economic conditions; general political and social conditions such as war, political unrest and terrorism; natural disasters or severe weather events; currency fluctuations and exchange rate adjustments; uncertainties generally associated with the specialty retailing business; disruptions in our supply of inventory; inability to increase same store sales; inability to renew, replace or enter into new store leases on favorable terms; significant increases in our merchandise markdowns; inability to grow our store base in Europe or expand our international franchising operations; inability to design and implement new information systems; delays in anticipated store openings or renovations; uncertainty that definitive financial results may differ from preliminary financial results due to, among other things, final U.S. GAAP adjustments; results from any future asset impairment analysis; changes in applicable laws, rules and regulations, including changes in federal, state or local regulations governing the sale of our merchandise, particularly regulations relating to the content in our merchandise, general employment laws, including laws relating to overtime pay and employee benefits, health care laws, tax laws and import laws; product recalls; loss of key members of management; increases in the cost of labor; labor disputes; unwillingness of vendors and service providers to supply goods or services pursuant to historical customary credit arrangements; increases in the cost of borrowings; unavailability of additional debt or equity capital; and the impact of our substantial indebtedness on our operating income and our ability to grow.  These and other applicable risks, cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the Company's forward-looking statements are included in the Company's filings with the SEC, specifically as described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2010 filed with the SEC on April 13, 2010.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.  

Additional Information:

Note:  Other Claire's Stores, Inc. press releases, a corporate profile and the most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q reports are available on Claire's business website at: http://www.clairestores.com.

Contact Information:

J. Per Brodin, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Phone: (954) 433-3900, Fax: (954) 442-3999 or E-mail, [email protected]

SOURCE Claire's Stores Inc.