A Sister Act That's Wowing Them

When Rowland Schaefer, the founder and CEO of Claire's Stores Inc. (CLE ), was felled by a stroke in late 2002, the company was caught unprepared. Even at 86, the iron-willed Schaefer hadn't groomed a successor and had only promoted his two daughters, Bonnie and Marla, to vice-chair positions to appease the board. Left with few choices, the board tapped the two sisters as "acting co-CEOs" -- but gave them orders to begin searching for a seasoned executive who could step in if their father wasn't able to return. "They had Claire's in their blood, but they were not proven quantities," says director Bruce G. Miller, a managing director at Ryan Beck & Co. (BBX ).

Privately, though, Bonnie and Marla chafed at the idea of bringing in an outsider to run the $1.3 billion retailer, which sells inexpensive baubles, bangles, and bows for teens and tweens. The pair had worked most of their adult lives at Claire's and figured any outsider would need at least a year to learn the business. "We said, 'We know all this stuff, let's just go do it,"' recalls Bonnie, 52, who handles real estate and store operations from the company's headquarters in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Marla, who is four years older and the more extroverted of the two, oversees merchandising and investor relations from New York. Together they form a unique executive partnership -- a long-distance sister act built on their complementary strengths. "We like to say we share a brain," says Marla.