Summary by Tiffany Webber-Hanchett

The future of off-price retailing is looking bright, especially for the TJX Corporation. The largest, and still growing, international conglomerate is nearly doubling the number of some of its stores, which include T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s, A.J. Wright, and Home Goods in the United States, Winners in Canada, and T.K. Maxx in the United Kingdom and Europe. Michaela Markey and recent URI graduate Elecia Souza enthusiastically shared their professional experience working for the TJX Corporation, a company which has remained strong, due in part to its size, while other off-price retailers like Bradlee’s have gone under. Markey is a buyer of girl’s sportswear for the MarMaxx Group of which TJ Maxx and Marshall’s belong, who started at TJX as an Allocation Analyst, Souza’s current position for the eighty-four Home Goods stores located nationwide.

Souza circulated handouts that explained her position as well as the corporation’s path for career growth; the corporation likes to promote from within. Employees at all levels are often transferred from one segment of the corporation to another, which keeps the employees and their work fresh. Souza’s job consists mainly of allocating and shipping merchandise the buyer has purchased to different stores. Allocations are based on demographics. Souza works closely with buyers like Markey both to plan unit structures and pricing and to improve "sales and knowledge of the business."

Markey contrasted the freedom of off-price retail buyers to that of those working for large department stores. Markey’s buying power is greater in that she is not limited by a matrix system or by what labels are "allowed" on the department store floor. Instead, she buys what is "hot" at a given moment. She attempts to buy the best quality goods at the best prices so that the consumer can "get the maxx for the minimum." She travels weekly to meet with vendors from around the world and to stay in constant contact with the market. Markey acquires merchandise primarily through "close- out" or "opportunity" buys although she does obtain some merchandise through up-front purchasing of a current line, importing sweaters from the Far East, and from store stock of specialty lines like Express, the Limited, etc. Closeout or opportunity buys include purchasing overruns, and sometimes irregulars, from manufacturers.

According to Souza the future of TJX is looking "up" despite competition from other off-price retailers like Ross stores. Given the amount of energy and enthusiasm these women have working for the corporation and the delight we consumers derive from hunting down "brand names for less," it does not look like things will be changing any time soon.