Claire’s Accessories shut after a long drawdown at Liverpool ONE, while Gilly Hicks prepares to merge into Hollister in a 10-week shopfront overhaul.
Liverpool ONE is marking two very different kinds of change this season: the end of a familiar retailer and the start of a new store layout designed to look and operate as one.
The fashion accessories shop Claire’s Accessories has closed its Liverpool ONE unit for good after a lengthy closing-down period, with its final day of operations falling over the weekend. The retailer’s exit is part of a wider shake-up for the brand that has played out across the UK and Ireland.
Claire’s first entered administration on August 13, 2025.. A rescue followed, with investment firm Modella Capital buying the majority of the company’s operations and assets from administrators.. But the rescue did not cover the full footprint: only just over half of the chain’s roughly 300 outlets were saved. while 148 branches were not included.. That shortfall put around 1,000 jobs at risk.
In the meantime, administrators said they would keep 145 stores open for as long as possible while other options were explored.. Even during that extended wind-down. clearance sales began at some locations—something shoppers could feel locally. as racks shifted and signage increasingly pointed to final markdowns.. Liverpool ONE’s store had been running a closing-down sale for months in anticipation of the last day.. Saturday, April 25, was when it shut.
The impact wasn’t limited to a single site.. Claire’s also operated in Merseyside at Southport and Birkenhead. including locations across Liverpool. the Southport area. and the Birkenhead Pyramid Shopping Centre.. The Southport store had already shut earlier in the month.. At the Pyramid Shopping Centre, a closing-down sale was still in progress as of last week.
Behind the closure, the bigger story is how quickly retail can move from brand stability to sudden restructuring.. Modella Capital. the new owner. has been positioning itself as a serious force in the UK’s high street over the past few years.. The firm was established in 2022 and has since expanded through acquisitions. including taking on WH Smith’s high street division earlier this year.. It also moved into arts and crafts retail through Hobbycraft last year, and has invested in Ted Baker.
That pattern matters in a place like Liverpool ONE, where footfall and tenant mix are constantly being tested.. When a chain like Claire’s exits. shoppers experience more than a vacancy; they lose a familiar stop they might have built into routine errands.. Staff reductions and store closures can ripple outward too—especially when a brand had multiple local locations.
At the same time, a second development is set to change the look of another storefront on the same patch of retail streets. An American fashion retailer, Gilly Hicks—currently on Lower South John Street—will disappear as a standalone shopfront as part of a removal and demotion project.
Planning proposals connected to Liverpool City Council would strip back the Gilly Hicks frontage elements.. That includes removing entrance doors, the display window, fascia signage, and the black panelling frames.. The plan also calls for the removal of the cash desk, fitting rooms, and internal display fixtures and furniture.. Alongside the adjustments, non-structuring partition areas would be partially demoted.
The direction of travel is clear: the interior is expected to be reworked so it functions as one uniform store. aligned with Hollister next door and within the same broader brand ecosystem.. Work would include resin flooring and a reconfiguration of the Hollister fitting room, designed to increase capacity.. Temporary hoarding would be used while the shopfront works are completed, expected to take approximately 10 weeks.
Notably, the proposal also points to a branded-quiet approach during construction: there would be no branding, graphics, or illumination used. In other words, the changes are intended to be practical and structural rather than a visible marketing push in the short term.
For shoppers, that transition may feel like a brief pause in the familiar layout—then a reshuffle.. Hollister opened on Lower South John Street in 2009 in a different unit next to Zara. where it remained for more than 10 years.. In 2023, Hollister announced it would relocate further along the street, bringing Gilly Hicks with it that summer.. That move marked Gilly Hicks’ first store in the region. effectively giving the retailer a new local home just a few years ago.
Now, the local retail story is shifting again: Claire’s is closing after a long, gradual wind-down, while Gilly Hicks is set to merge and lose its independent storefront identity as part of a broader consolidation with Hollister.
Taken together. these moves underline a defining trend for modern shopping centres and shopping streets: the problem is rarely only “closing stores.” More often. it’s a question of how retail spaces are reshaped—through closures. mergers. and redesigns—so the remaining brands can trade more efficiently in a crowded. fast-changing market.