Some Maxxinistas may have to become Marshallistas.
Retailers are having trouble keeping doors open and lights on as high costs and low foot traffic remain a problem across the board. Recently, major players like Nordstrom, Saks and Macy’s have all been forced to shut locations.
T.J. Maxx is the latest retail behemoth closing down stores as Inc. has confirmed the off-price chain is axing three locations this year. The closures will be in Massachusetts and Maryland, but the company has not announced dates.
Shoppers will lose the following locations:
Massachusetts
- 360 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02115
Maryland
- 8661 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910
- 1262 Vocke Road, Cumberland, MD 21502
Earlier this year, TJX — who owns Marshalls, HomeGoods, HomeSense and Sierra — closed down two of its high-profile T.J. Maxx locations: a flagship in Boston and one at a popular mall in Maryland.
Shoppers lost the three-story Newbury Street location in Boston as its last day in business was January 5 after nearly a decade. The closure was confirmed through a Massachusetts WARN notice where 117 workers were impacted.
The T.J. Maxx store in Silver Spring, Maryland, shut down its spot at the Ellsworth Place mall after a 10-year run where about 60 workers were let go.
Elizabeth Lafontaine of Placer.ai — a foot-traffic data software company — told Inc. that while it may be a shock to shoppers, it’s normal for large chains like T.J. Maxx to reevaluate its locations.
“Chains that continue to grow their footprint nationwide benefit from more strategic location selection,” Lafontaine told Inc. “Store fleet expansion involves creating the right store formats in the right locations for the right audience, which can require some pivots over time.”
Despite shutting the lights off at a handful of stores, T.J. Maxx opened 23 locations last quarter and plans to accelerate openings. TJX CEO Ernie Herrman said on an Aug. 19 earnings call that storefronts across TJX plan on increasing store growth from 3% to 4%, starting next year, “to take advantage of the growth opportunities we see out there.”
TJX currently operates 5,285 stores across 10 countries, including the US, Canada, Spain and the U.K.
CFO John Klinger said on the earnings call that the companies are focusing on where the demand is.
“We’re seeing opportunities in rural markets, where we see department stores are closing,” Klinger said. “We’ve experienced strong comp growth for so many quarters that we’re seeing the ability to put stores closer together than we thought before. And then, [we want to build] the small-format store that allows us to expand in a lot of densely populated urban areas, as well.”
