TJX Companies
The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.[7] It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor to Zayre Corp. following a company reorganization in 1989.
Not to be confused with THX.Formerly
Zayre Corp.
1987
Bernard Cammarata
4,557[1] (August 1, 2020)
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- Austria
- Ireland
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Poland
- United Kingdom
Carol Meyrowitz
(Executive Chairman)
Ernie Herrman
(President, CEO)
Scott Goldenberg (CFO)
Raina Avalon (CLO)
Mark Beyerly (CIO)
- Clothing
- footwear
- bedding
- food
- furniture
- jewelry
- beauty products
- housewares
US$4.17 billion (2018)
US$3.06 billion (2018)
US$14.326 billion (2018)
US$5.05 billion (2018)
270,000 (2018)
As of 2019, TJX operates TJ Maxx (in the United States) and TK Maxx (in Australia and Europe), its flagship store chains, along with Marshalls, HomeGoods, HomeSense, and Sierra in the United States, and HomeSense, Marshalls, and Winners in Canada. There are over 4,557 discount stores in the TJX portfolio located in nine countries.[8] TJX ranked No. 97 in the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[9]
History[edit]
Zayre[edit]
In 1977, the first TJ Maxx store opened in Auburn, Massachusetts as part of the discount department store chain Zayre. In June 1987, Zayre established The TJX Companies as a subsidiary. In the first half of 1988, Zayre stores had operating losses of $69 million on sales of $1.4 billion. Observers blamed technological inferiority, poor maintenance, inappropriate pricing, and inventory pileups, and Zayre appeared ripe for takeover. Throughout all this, however, The TJX Companies subsidiary continued to yield a profit. In October 1988, Zayre Corp. decided to focus its energies on TJX. It sold the entire chain of nearly 400 Zayre stores to Ames Department Stores Inc. In exchange, the company received $431.4 million in cash, a receivable note, and what was then valued at $140 million of Ames cumulative senior convertible preferred stock.[10]
The company continued focus on its core business, selling unrelated operations including BJ's Wholesale Club and Home Club, leaving it with just one brand, T.J. Maxx.[11] In June 1989, Zayre Corp. acquired the outstanding minority interest in TJX and merged with the subsidiary, changing its name from Zayre Corp. to The TJX Companies, Inc. in the process. The newly named company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Expansion[edit]
In 1990, TJX expanded into an additional store brand division, and at the same time it first went international, as it entered the Canadian market by acquiring the five-store Winners chain.[11] Two years later, it launched its third brand, HomeGoods, in the United States.[11] TJX's expansion beyond North America came in 1994, when the fourth brand division, T.K. Maxx, was founded in the United Kingdom, and then expanded into Ireland.[11] In 1995, TJX doubled in size when it acquired Marshalls, its fifth brand. T.J. Maxx and Marshalls later became consolidated as two brands under a single division, The Marmaxx Group.[11][12] The following year, TJX Companies Inc. was added to the Standard & Poor's S&P 500 Composite Index, which consists of 500 of the largest companies in the United States.[13] TJX sold Hit or Miss, a discount mall based clothing store in 1995 as well through an employee leveraged buyout.[14]
Incidents[edit]
Computer systems intrusion[edit]
On January 17, 2007, TJX announced that it was the victim of an unauthorized computer systems intrusion. It discovered in mid-December 2006 that its computer systems were compromised and customer data was stolen.[23] The hackers accessed a system that stores data on credit card, debit card, check, and merchandise return transactions.[24] The intrusion was kept confidential as requested by law enforcement. TJX said that it was working with General Dynamics, IBM and Deloitte to upgrade computer security.
By the end of March 2007, the number of affected customers had reached 45.7 million,[25] and prompted credit bureaus to seek legislation requiring retailers to be responsible for compromised customer information saved in their systems. In addition to credit card numbers, personal information such as social security numbers and driver's license numbers from 451,000 customers were downloaded by the intruders. The breach was possible due to a non-secure wireless network in one of the stores.[26] Eleven men were charged in the theft, and one (Damon Patrick Toey) pleaded guilty to numerous charges related to the breach.[27] Another, Jonathan James, professed his innocence and later committed suicide, apparently out of the belief that he was going to be indicted.[28] The alleged ringleader Albert Gonzalez, was later indicted in August 2009 with attacking Heartland Payment Systems, where 130 million records were compromised.[29]