Bucking the Trend of a Shrinking Retail Presence

Even as so many retailers contract their physical presence, TJX is expanding with new stores in many of its retail brands. It owns TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Sierra Trading Post, Marshalls, and HomeSense (all in the US). Its Canadian brands include Winners, HomeSense, and Marshalls. These are off-price retailing brands, with a "treasure hunt" sensibility and lower-than-traditional-stores pricing.

Home Goods is opening stores from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Above, the grand opening day of one store, where the line to check out reached from front to back of the store for the first three hours. Before the opening, inventory was stocked neatly on shelves and attractive display platforms. Even as shoppers poured in, stock was neatened and replenished.

Wisely, Home Goods had lots of extra employees on hand to answer questions, direct shoppers to the right aisle, and direct cart traffic to keep lines moving quickly and efficiently all day. With a TJMaxx just down the road from this new store, local shoppers were already familiar with the kinds of discounts and merchandise they would find.

Another wise move: Leveraging brand synergy by putting two retail names together under one roof. Home Goods is going in with Marshalls in several sites, capturing more shoppers and, hopefully, more wallet share. This makes sense because all of the TJX brands are known for discount pricing.

The bottom line is, apparently, consumers' bottom line: Lower prices, and the opportunity to grab a bargain, will attract shoppers and keep them coming back periodically.