- Sales are up at TJX Companies, the parent company of discount store chains including T.J. Maxx.
- As other chains shut stores and consumers tighten their purse strings, more shoppers are turning to T.J. Maxx.
- Insider visited a T.J. Maxx in Wisconsin and one in England operated by sister company TK Maxx.
Consumers are cutting back on spending as inflation continues to hit – and T.J. Maxx seems to be benefitting from this. Parent company TJX said Wednesday that US sales at T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Sierra stores were up 7% in the first quarter year-over-year.
Sources: Insider, Insider, TJX Companies
Some major US retailers, including Foot Locker, Gap, and Bath & Body Works, are collectively closing thousands of stores this year. T.J. Maxx, in contrast, said in February that it planned to open 150 total stores in 2023, both in the US and abroad.
The first T.J. Maxx store opened in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1976, and TJX has since grown to own other discount store brands like Marshall's, Sierra, and HomeGoods.
T.J. Maxx's European sister company, TK Maxx, arrived in the UK in 1994. It changed its name to avoid being confused with the UK-based discount department-store chain TJ Hughes.
Source: TJX Companies
TK Maxx's parent company calls the chain "the only brick-and-mortar, off-price apparel and home fashions retailer of significant size in Europe." TK Maxx also has stores in Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Australia.
Source: Insider
As of April, TK Maxx had more than 600 stores in Europe, while T.J. Maxx had just over 1,300 in the US. Insider visited a TK Maxx in Leeds, northern England ...
Source: TJX Companies
...and a T.J. Maxx in Madison, Wisconsin in January: Here's what we saw while visiting two stores separated by both a single letter — and the Atlantic Ocean.
The city center TK Maxx in England was a large, sprawling store covering two floors.
The T.J. Maxx store was similarly vast — larger than it would seem from the outside — but well-lit and comfortably spaced.
In Leeds the focus was clear: Famous brands and heavy discounts. Signs throughout the space emphasized low prices and big names.
The store used slogans like "when it's gone it's gone" to create a notion of scarcity and push customers to buy quickly.
There did appear to be some great savings in the UK store. This Moncrief bag was labeled with a recommended retail price of £1,500 ($1,870) but was on sale for £249.99 ($311).
In the UK store, clothes are sorted into categories like skirts, shirts, and dresses, and then displayed according to size. But if you find an item that you like that doesn't fit you, it can be a bit tricky to know whether the store stocks it in other sizes.
The US store was similarly grouped, with color-coded collars on hangers and bar dividers delineating the sizes of women's apparel on clearance.
There were some non-clothing items dotted throughout the womenswear – and a selection of yoga mats and dumbbells among the sportswear.
Some of the apparel was also sorted into two specific ranges: Mod Box, which generally targets younger shoppers ...
... and Gold Label, which was full of high-end clothes.
The UK displays felt a little bit lackluster. Whereas other fashion stores may use things like fun signs, lighting, mannequins, plants, and furniture to jazz up their displays, TK Maxx seemed content to just let the clothes do the talking.
Some of the UK store's lingerie section seemed a bit uninspired ...
... though we did spot some very cute nightwear from a brand we'd never heard of.
Some of the displays in the US store were a bit uninspired, too. For example, this puzzlingly sparse display of cross-body bags stood across from an otherwise well-supplied array of purses and handbags.
Woven throughout the UK store were rows and rows of clearance racks, too.
At some points, it was hard to tell which items were cheap because they were specifically being reduced to clear inventory versus ones that were cheap just because that's TK Maxx's selling style.
Parts of the US store were hard to navigate, too. There were restocking bins standing throughout the store, but those were typically pushed well enough to the side so as not to interrupt shopping.
The one crowded area was in the bath section at the rear of the store, where several restocking carts had been shoved into a corner.
Several stands, like this one for accessories at the US store, had been pretty worked over by customers inspecting products.
The section in the UK store dedicated to shoes was huge, and featured brands including Adidas, Fila, Levi's, Birkenstock, and Alexander McQueen. But they too were sorted by size rather than item type, which meant that sneakers, heels, and rain boots were all jumbled together.
Most shoes were straight on the shelves, but some were kept in boxes, which seems a bit impractical for shoppers. Because of the way that TK Maxx sorts its items according to size, you have no idea what might be in the boxes until you open them.
There was also a makeup and beauty section in the UK store. Some parts of this looked very neat ...
... but the makeup display, in particular, was quite messy. Some of the boxes had been opened and some products had leaked onto the counter.
There were also lots of perfumes on sale, but because they were all in security boxes you couldn't see what they smelled like. We didn't spot any testers. Brands TK Maxx sold included in its beauty and makeup section included Essie, Revlon, Wella, Elf, Maybelline, and Max Factor, as well as some odd products, like snail soap and boon lotion.
There was a whole host of electronics, too, including things like hair styling tools and hairdryers.
Of course, there were a lot of items labeled as "final clearance," too.
An escalator in the UK store took you downstairs to men's clothing, kid's products, and homeware. Strangely, the first things you encountered when exiting the escalator were neatly-arranged boxes of underwear – and they all had security tags on.
The men's underwear section at the US store was similarly well organized, though it did not have the security tags seen in the UK.
The UK menswear section seemed relatively neat. There were mirrors at the end of almost every rack of clothing, which made it easy if shoppers wanted to check if a color suited them or try on a jacket without heading to the fitting rooms.
We spotted a range of brands throughout the store, including Superdry, Michael Kors, and Adidas. In particular, there seemed to be a lot of Alexander McQueen, DKNY, and Moschino items.
In one corner there was a big display of suitcases and travel bags, featuring brands like Guess, Juicy Couture, Dune, and Polo by Ralph Lauren.
The US store had a generous selection of luggage, too.
The UK kids' section boasted a range of designer brands, like Balmain, Juicy Couture, Polo by Ralph Lauren, French Connection, and DKNY. There were also some items designed by Jessica Simpson.
The UK store had an extensive homeware section – a bit of a surprise because it was located just yards from a HomeSense store, a homeware store owned by the same parent company. Some of the TK Maxx displays were very attractive ...
... including these cushions arranged by color. This was probably the neatest section of the store – likely because fewer customers browse through these items and move them around, unlike with clothes and shoes.
Considering there were some beautiful items up for grabs, it was surprising that TK Maxx chose to highlight a range of household cleaning products in one of its end-cap displays.
The homeware section at the US store was attractively organized, with the fake-plants shelf arranged especially neatly, showing a nice eye for color and balance.
The US store also devoted a surprisingly wide area in the center of the sales floor to displaying furniture and other bulky housewares.
The UK store also had some homeware items you probably wouldn't think of coming to TK Maxx for, like an angle grinder, various fluids for cleaning your car, and some general cleaning products like drain unblocker.
As ever, though, the food section proved to be the most enjoyable. In the UK store it was host to a whole range of items, including pasta, tea, coffee, olive oil, cereal bars, and much, much more.
TK Maxx is the store to visit for a fun-flavored coffee syrup. Most UK supermarkets only carry a few flavors, if any at all.
As with the clothes and toiletries sections, there were lots of "final clearance" displays among the homeware aisles, too. In the UK we spotted some books – we hadn't realized that TK Maxx sold fiction, but lo and behold, we found a collection of Oscar Wilde novels.
Some of the clearance sections were very jumbled.
The UK store also had some quite large, bulky non-apparel items, like these children's toys. There was a mini ice-cream truck and a play tent.
The children's toy selection in the US store was pleasantly full and varied without being cluttered...
... though it's easy to imagine much of that ending up in disarray after a toddler or two have passed through.
Dean, who last visited the UK store around 15 months ago, found a marked improvement since then. "Compared to the TK Maxx stores I remembered growing up – which always seemed something like a yard sale with their collection of random items in random sizes – this store actually seemed pretty tidy."
All in all, the stores were strikingly consistent with one another, in spite of the distance and the letter.
At TJX's earnings call Wednesday, CEO Ernie Herrman said that the company's low prices and "treasure hunt shopping experience" created by its fresh waves of stock arriving each week, were keeping customers coming back.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyxtM6tpqxlmKTEbsHKZqukZZ2Wxbl50q2mq52jYrCwuc%2BaqZ5lpJ96rq3XsWStoqhif3F%2BkmZo