TJX is the biggest and the stellar off-price apparel and home fashion retailer in the United States of America and the world with presence globally. TJX group has T.J Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods chains under the umbrella of its ever-expanding business. TJX and its associated stores are a boon for cost conscious shoppers since the company primarily focuses on providing its customers with vibrant, exciting and fresh options at excellent values and affordable prices. Over the last six decades of its existence, the company has become a household name and has expanded its scope to Europe and Canada too. The company features on the list of Standard & Poor’s top 500 firms and that projects the clout and the value that the company has generated for itself over the years.
The company today has over 2,900 stores and employs over a hundred thousand people. But like any other company, TJX was started on a small scale before it gradually expanded and became a renowned group. The company has a century old history, which saw it expanding globally and diversifying into different chains and groups.
The history of the group dates back to 1919 when Max and Morris Feldberg, two Russian immigrants, founded the New England Trading Company in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1919 (Baer 2011). This was the first stepping-stone in the long journey that the company had to traverse later, over the entire 20th century. Both the brothers launched a chain of women’s apparel stores in New England and Washington D.C. This laid the foundation for the family to establish a group of departmental stores that first were known as Zayre and later were rechristened to TJ Maxx.
The first Zayre discount department store opened in Hyannis, Massachusetts by the two cousins, Stanley and Summer Feldberg in 1956. Later in 1962, the company was incorporated as Zyre Corp. It was only in 1969 that the company entered the upscale off-price fashion market when the group purchased the women’s clothing chain Hit or Miss. The acquisition in true sense lead to the birth of TJ Maxx. It was under the dynamic leadership of Ben Cammarata, a talented and visionary merchant, that the first T.J. Maxx opened in Auburn, Massachusetts in 1977 that had on offer upscale apparel for the entire family. The company continued to expand and acquire and added one more feather to its cap when it bought Home Club Inc., a home improvement chain in 1985.
The company went public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 1987 with Zayre retaining majority of the stake (Fundinguniverse 2004). The company further went on to acquire companies like Winner Apparels Ltd and Marshalls over its journey. The company continued to prosper and expand. It forayed into the European market by launching T.K. Maxx in U.K and then Ireland. T.K. Maxx went on to become the largest off-price retailer in Europe. In 1998, the company came up with A.J. Wright, an off-price concept similar to T.J. Maxx with an eye on middle and moderate-income group. It was in 2001 that the company crossed over to Canada when it launched HomeSense, an off-price concept on the lines of HomeGoods. In 2003, TJX acquired Bob’s stores, a 31-store, value-oriented retailer based in a bid to expand its business further (TJX, n.d). T.K Maxx did as well as T.J Maxx in US and its stores were opened in Germany and Poland too. By the end of 2012, T.J Maxx had over a thousand stores, a remarkable achievement. The year also saw TJX acquiring Sierra Trading Post, an off-price retailer. The company has continued to flourish, prosper and grow under the leadership of its current CEO Carol Meyrowitz and has shown remarkable performance in the recent years.
TJ Maxx had a long journey and had work hard for the position that it holds today. It is a world renowned and famous firm, which has large number of stores and is an employer to thousands. The company maintains its focus and emphasis on three main aims and objectives i.e. quality, fashion and price and it goes without saying that the company has succeeded tremendously.
Works Cited
TJX. ” Our History”
Tjx.com. 22 April 2013. Web. n.d
< http://www.tjx.com/about_history.asp>
Baer, Meryl. ” TJX Company History”
eHow. 22 April 2013. Web. 2011
< http://www.ehow.com/info_7735714_tjx-company-history.html>
Fundinguniverse. ” The TJX Companies, Inc. History”
Funding Universe. 22 April 2013. Web. 2004
< http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-tjx-companies-inc-history/>
