FINANCIAL PRESS Releases

PEMBROKE PINES, FL., April 10, Claire's Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CLE) reported today same store sales for the five weeks ended April 5, 2003 increased 3 percent while total sales increased 9 percent to $90,800,000 compared with $83,551,000 reported for the same period last year.

Same store sales by brand for March 2003 were as follows:

-- Claire's Accessories North America: positive mid single digits
-- Claire's Accessories Europe: negative low single digits
-- Icing by Claire's: positive low single digits

"We expected same store sales comparisons to be positive low single digits for Claire's North America and slightly negative for Claire's Europe for the month of March due to the shift in Easter from March last year to April this year. However, the performance for March came in ahead of plan in terms of both sales and profitability. Our same store sales plan for April is in the 11 to 13 percent range." said Bonnie Schaefer, Vice Chairman of Claire's.

"Due to the better than expected performance in March and continued strong same store sales trends, we feel comfortable increasing our earnings guidance to 21 cents, from 19 cents, per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2004. Our merchants have produced a strong spring presentation in the stores and our customers are responding extremely well." said Marla Schaefer, Vice Chairman of Claire's.

Claire's Stores, Inc., is a leading international specialty retailer offering value-priced costume jewelry and accessories to fashion-aware tweens, teens and young adults through its two store concepts: Claire's Accessories (North America and Europe) and Icing by Claire's. As of April 1, 2003, Claire's Stores, Inc. operated approximately 2,800 stores in the United States, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France. Claire's Stores, Inc. also operates through its subsidiary Claire's Nippon, Co., Ltd., over 100 stores in Japan as a 50:50 joint venture with AEON, Co., Ltd. (fka JUSCO, Co. Ltd.).

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs with respect to future events. 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 for pre-teen and teen apparel and accessories, competition, general economic conditions, uncertainties generally associated with the specialty retailing business, potential difficulties or delays in identifying, attracting and retaining qualified individuals to serve in senior management positions and uncertainty that definitive financial results may differ from preliminary financial results due to, among other things, final GAAP adjustments. 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 February 2, 2002. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. The historical results contained in this press release are not necessarily indicative of the future performance of the Company.

Note: Other Claire's Stores, Inc. press releases, a corporate profile and most recent 10-K and 10-Q reports are available via Claire's Internet home page: http://www.clairestores.com.

Contacts: Sonia Rohan, Vice President of Investor Relations &
Corporate Communications
(212) 594-3127
Fax: (212) 244-4237
sonia.rohan@claires.com