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North East Mall presents holiday 95.

Over 1.2 million square feet of pure shopping.

I know I'm about to date myself by saying this but Clares was one of the go-to places in the mall as a teenager. Maybe a preferred Hot Topic or Nubury Comics, but if you want a jewelry that wouldn't cost your entire allowance, phone accessories for your

brand new pink razor, or the latest collection of snap bracelets, then Claire's was the place to be.

I realize that saying all of that out loud has probably made me sound ancient as all hell, but just bear with me on this.

Retail executive Bruce Gaslow, who worked for Claire's for decades, admits that, yeah, it was a place of first for so many kids.

Whether it was a first ear piercing, your first attempt to express yourself with makeup,

or your first time going into a store and absolutely going nuts with no parents involved,

it was a childhood shaping experience.

Or a teenage shaping experience if you liked icing, the slightly grown-up version of Claire's owned by the exact same folks.

Which truthfully, I didn't know that was supposed to be the target demographic.

I thought icing was like supposed to be the fancy clares and that was kind of their whole thing

was like that's where you went if you wanted to like sparkle like hell for homecoming. While you might not see junk jewelry and

...