, Columnist
TJ Maxx Shouldn't Discount Department Store Lessons
Opening hundreds more stores defies retail's hard-earned wisdom.
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TJX Cos. shouldn't discount the lessons learned from the demise of American department stores. Chief among them: Building too many brick-and-mortar stores can be a dangerous way to stoke growth.
On Wednesday, the parent company of TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Marshalls talked about its plan to grow its off-price store count by 50 percent over time, adding 1,800 stores to its current base of 3,800 stores around the world. About 1,300 of them would be in North America. CEO Ernie L. Hermann sounded downright giddy when he told Wall Street analysts he "didn't close a single store last year" despite the retail Armageddon unfolding all around the seller of discount goods.