Claire’s taps former Walmart exec as new chief merchandising officer
Claire’s has announced the appointment of Jillian Cueff as its new chief merchandising officer, part of a company-wide reset following its acquisition by Ames Watson in September 2025.
The tween retailer is currently undergoing a transition with a focus on profitable growth and reestablishing relevancy. According to the company, Cueff has been brought in “to lead a comprehensive merchandising transformation across all channels.” This includes elevating product quality and style relevance, and modernizing Claire’s’ global vendor partnerships, among other merchandising tasks. Most recently, Cueff served as vp of merchandising at Walmart and Macy’s. At Walmart, she led the merchandising efforts for the retail giant’s jewelry and accessories division.
In her first interview since taking on the Claire’s role, Cueff spoke to Modern Retail about the company’s new merchandising strategy, centered on modernizing vendor partnerships while fueling disciplined growth. Cueff said that one of the brand’s biggest selling points is the nostalgia many people feel for it, along with its status as a hub for piercing. Now it’s just a matter of modernizing the inventory planning process to quickly adapt to the fast-evolving tastes of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
With your background in merchandising at big retailers, what drew you to be part of Claire’s’ new reinvention strategy?
“When this amazing opportunity found me, I said, ‘This is too good to be true,’ because not only do I love this brand and think it deserves a place in America, but I also feel like I know what to do to make the commercial engine run profitably and productively.
When the pandemic hit, Walmart asked me to lead its omnichannel jewelry and accessories business. That is where I first got introduced to doing business with Claire’s. I was instrumental in bringing Claire’s into Walmart’s ecosystem because Claire’s was a national brand with strong recognition that could really elevate the Walmart experience. I have definitely seen Claire’s perform commercially and drive some big business at Walmart. So I’m excited about really getting my hands under the hood and understanding what was broken and what needs to be fixed.”
What are some of the assortment opportunities you see at Claire’s to help reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
“Right now, [Claire’s] is SKU-intensive; it’s so over-assorted. We’re making some pretty big SKU reductions so our storytelling can be clearer and our teams can buy the things that matter with more conviction. We’ve heard the customer’s feedback, and we’re cleaning things up to make it much clearer for her — not just what she needs, but also what she needs to do with it.
So while we have jewelry today, we also know she’s stacking jewelry. She wants to layer her necklaces, her bracelets and her rings. We don’t make it easy for her to do that today, and in the future, you’ll see how we present that in our merchandise. We also definitely think that we are under-penetrated in beauty. We know where this customer is shopping, and beauty is a big part of where she’s spending.
In addition, we have an opportunity to reach not just the Gen Alpha customer — a lot of times, she’s shopping with her mom, too. If you look at our assortment, we’re very much catering to the girl, but we have room to open up that aperture with some products that may appeal to a bit older customer.”
Can you give examples of how you are adapting to the fast-changing tastes of Gen Alpha?
“This [Gen Alpha] customer changes their mind probably five times in a sentence. So, making sure that the business is set up to move as fast as she is requires a change in how we operate. From a buyer’s standpoint, you typically decide [on inventory] a year [out]. But we know we’re a trend destination. So we have to be far more nimble and make sure we’re listening to the feedback loops from our customer and hearing what she wants and needs.”
How do you do that when supply chains are so complicated?
“That goes with modernizing how we deal with our supplier relationships. Having more strategic partners, where we can be less transactional and more planful about how we run the business, is critical. That way, we can be nimble and be able to chase after trends knowing which partners are the subject matter experts on different categories, so that we can have those relationships that allow us to plan for openness and chasing [trends].”
In the past few years, Claire’s experimented with various merchandising strategies, including influencer and brand collaborations. What roles will brand partnerships play going forward?
“I can’t give away too much, but listening to what our customer is saying is our best R&D. So, whether that’s, “Hey, you need to go find my favorite creator, and they need a beauty line,” or they’re telling us a product is amazing that we don’t have in the store. We are going after those things now, and we have a very significant pipeline of opportunities for exciting new ideas and collaborations that will come to life over the next year.
When you’re in this big of a turnaround, you’ve got to pick the things that matter most. The store experience is what the customers are telling us needs the most change and modernization, and so it’s our No.1. It’s hopefully going to be followed very quickly by a robust e-commerce strategy.”