Club Libby Lu was an experiential/experience-based retailer for young girls ages 4 to 12. Founded by Mary Drolet, a former executive at

Claire's Claire's (formerly known as Claire's Boutiques, Claire's Boutique and Claire's Accessories) is an American retailer of accessories, jewelry, and toys primarily aimed towards tween and teen girls, and young women. It was founded in 1961 and i ...

and

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

, in August 2000, the store chain employed 98 stores in 28 states in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

before closing in 2009. The stores were named after founder Mary Drolet's childhood imaginary friend. A makeover cost between $25–$60, depending on the package of choice, and included a full hair updo, nail polish, and makeup. In addition to playing dress-up for the day, Club Libby Lu VIPs (Very Important Princesses) were guided by their Club Counselors over to various sites including a "potion bar" where a VIP could make their own lotion, perfume, fairy dust, or lip gloss, and a Pooch Parlor, where the guests could own stuffed animals of their choice. At the end of every experience, each VIP was encouraged to join the free club, and was given a friendship bracelet.

History

Club Libby Lu was opened in 2000 by Mary Drolet and her two partners in a suburban

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

mall based on the three partners' concepts. In 2003,

Saks, Inc. Saks, Inc. was an American holding company founded in 1998 through the merger of Proffitts, Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Before acquisition by the Canadian-founded Hudson's Bay Company in 2013, it held ownership of numerous regional department st ...

purchased Club Libby Lu when it had 11 stores. 50 locations were opened in 2004. With a bit of advertising by 2005, revenues were about $46 million, a 53% increase over 2004. In 2006, the chain had 87 locations. Two former Club Libby Lu customers, Priscilla Ceballos of

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located within Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County with portions extending into Collin County, Texas, Collin and Rockwall County, Texas, Rockwall counties. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a ...

and her then-6-year-old daughter Alexis Menjivar, made national headlines in late December 2007 when Ceballos forced Alexis to write a fake essay about her father named Jonathon Menjivar as part of a contest held by the company where the winner would receive a Grand Prize of four tickets to a

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll, and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cy ...

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

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. In the essay, Priscilla explained that her husband Jonathon died in Iraq via a roadside bomb while serving in the army. While Alexis was getting a makeover in preparation for the concert at the Club Libby Lu store in Garland, reporter Byron Harris of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

affiliate

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

went to the store as part of an investigation for the station and informed Ceballos that there was no man by that name who had ever served in the military or died in Iraq. After the story surfaced and gained national attention, Alexis was disqualified and the tickets were awarded to another winner, who was not identified. In early November 2008, parent company

Saks Incorporated Saks, Inc. was an American holding company founded in 1998 through the merger of Proffitts, Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Before acquisition by the Canadian-founded Hudson's Bay Company in 2013, it held ownership of numerous regional department st ...

announced that due to the dismal state of the economy they would be closing all 98 locations.

References

{{Reflist Children's clothing retailers Clothing retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 2000 Retail companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct retail companies of the United States