Are the awkward years gone? I know I’m not the only one seeing tweens and young teens at Sephora buying products like Drunk Elephant or Youth To The People, or recording a Get Ready With Me (GRWM) video on TikTok. When I was 12 years old, I shopped at stores like Justice, buying everything monogrammed with my name’s first initial and sparkly shirts with penguins (I wish I were kidding).
Now, I feel like girls 10 years younger than me are twinning with me, owning serums I have or buying cleansers on my wish list. While expressing your trendiness and embracing your inner “clean girl” are awesome at whatever age, are girls missing out on the core girlhood of their tween phase?
Tween Stores Are Disappearing
It doesn’t help that some of the iconic childhood stores are now shutting down. While I haven’t stepped into a Justice or Claire’s in years, it makes me so sad and nostalgic that no one can enjoy having magnetic friendship necklaces or fuzzy journals.
Even if you wanted to take a walk down memory lane, Justice filed for bankruptcy in July 2020 and is now exclusively sold at Walmart or online. The beloved piercing hub and jewelry store, Claire’s, has been continuously closing stores and, in August 2025, filed for bankruptcy for the second time in seven years.
Much of their downfall can be blamed on the decreasing popularity of the malls’ in-person stores around the U.S. Many of us became recurring online shoppers rather than going to our local mall, specifically after COVID-19 and the restrictions we had on being in a populated area.
This caused their revenue to decrease, leading to stores shutting down. While some locations are alive and well, they no longer carry seasonal items to increase the chances of people buying their products.
There are thriving brands that might have once catered to this group, like Abercrombie & Fitch or Hollister, though they both rebranded to fit a larger, older audience, with the current trends. This means that there are limited stores that focus on young teens. Tweens then don’t have numerous options, leading them to the stores that teenagers and young adults go to. Hence, why we’re all twinning.
Why Sephora?
Malls closing and stores shutting down explain a good part of why tween culture is fading, but a larger portion is the exposure to TikTok. Don’t get me wrong, I love TikTok, the number of saved posts and screenshots can attest to this, but there are consequences.
Many of us, including myself, take a good amount of information from this app, whether it be news, advice, or trends. Here’s the thing: the same things we see, tweens also see. Though each individual has a different For You Page, this doesn’t mean that the most popular videos aren’t seen by most audiences.
Let’s say you watch a TikTok with someone wearing a gorgeous outfit. You become inspired and want something similar, if not the same thing. You wear it feeling so confident, and a random person compliments you, asking you where you got everything; you now feel elated. Not only did you look and feel amazing, but you also participated in the beginnings of a trend.
Now, imagine if a 12-year-old watches a GRWM with all of these products from Sephora for their skincare routine. They want to do the same thing. So, the next time they’re going shopping, they refer back to this TikTok with the intention that they’ll look and feel cool. I mean, it’s a pretty great feeling, so why not?
Here’s the thing: Sephora and other skincare brands succeed with tweens because their products are universally appealing. Anyone can grab a moisturizer or lip gloss without worrying about sizing or age limits. Clothing brands, on the other hand, might make tweens feel stuck in an awkward middle ground, being either too old for “little kid stuff” like Claire’s or too young for stores like Aritzia.
Mainstream fashion no longer designs for that stage of life. Instead of fighting with clothes that don’t fit or match their vibe, tweens turn to skincare and makeup, which still lets them feel trendy and included.
Final Thoughts
Growing up, people always said to me that I should enjoy my youth rather than trying to be older, because one day I’d want to reverse the clock. I didn’t listen, as one does, and I simply thought they didn’t understand. However, at the sweet age of 19, I’m admitting they were right.
They were also right on how I was being cringey on Musical.ly, something perhaps everyone has or will end up experiencing. In a way, these girls posting will be feeling the same way I feel, continuing the cycle of wincing at your younger self.
Much of the materialistic tween culture has been eliminated, but this doesn’t entirely entail that tweens aren’t still doing tween things. Social media only shows a fraction of an individual’s life. Who’s to say that they’re not just having fun for a TikTok and that they won’t go back to being themselves with added products?
Though I do wish that it wasn’t just me wearing the silly Justice tops, I think it’s important to understand that a large audience watches the same content. From that, many of us end up consuming and buying similar things. It’s more about the act of wanting to be cool when they haven’t really found themselves yet, and that’s normal at any age.
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