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TK Maxx

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This article is about the international brand owned by TJX. For the American brand owned by TJX, see TJ Maxx.

TK Maxx
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryRetail
Founded1994; 30 years ago (1994)
FounderBernard Cammarata
HeadquartersWatford, United Kingdom[1]
Number of locations
  • Europe: 596 (2 May 2020)[2]
  • Australia: 56 (2 May 2020)[2]
  • Total: 652 (2 May 2020)
Area served
ProductsClothing, footwear, bedding and domestics, furniture and giftware
ParentTJX Companies
Websitewww.tkmaxx.com

TK Maxx[a] is a subsidiary of the American apparel and home goods company TJX Companies. Its first store opened in 1994 in the United Kingdom. The chain uses a different name from TJ Maxx stores in the United States to avoid confusion with the British retailer T. J. Hughes. TK Maxx now also operates in Australia, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands.[3]

Stores

HomeSense and TK Maxx joint store in the MetroCentre, Gateshead

TK Maxx has 596 stores in Europe and 56 in Australia as of May 2020.[2] The stores are sometimes combined with Homesense, another TJX International subsidiary specialising in homewares.

History

In 1976, TJ Maxx was founded in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States, by Bernard Cammarata. The first international store opened in Bristol, UK, in 1994.[4] The company modified the name to TK Maxx to avoid confusion with the unrelated British retail chain T. J. Hughes.[5] Opening of stores in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2001 was not as successful as the company wished.[citation needed] The first store in Germany opened on October 4, 2007, in Lübeck.[6]

In 2007, TK Maxx began winding down new store openings in the United Kingdom. Focus was given to revamping or relocating older inner city stores.[citation needed] The company opened larger "Maxx Maxx" stores to attempt to move from a budget reputation and become more like a department store.[7] In August 2008, TK Maxx opened a store on Kensington High Street, London, England, its first central London store, on a site formerly occupied by Habitat.[8]

In 2009, TK Maxx was denied permission by the Crown Estate to open a store in a unit on its land at Piccadilly Circus, London. In February that year, the company had signed a deal with the leaseholder of the unit, a 20,000-square-foot (1,858 m2) vacant site formerly used by Virgin Megastores, with a rent of £1.55 million per year.[9] The Crown Estate rejected TK Maxx, saying it did not fit its upmarket development strategy for the area.[10] In response, publicist Max Clifford and Look magazine launched a campaign in support of a TK Maxx store on the site.[11] A court appeal by TK Maxx against the decision failed.[12]

In March 2009, the TK Maxx e-commerce site was launched, initially selling only handbags, but later also selling other accessories.[13]

In October 2015, the first Dutch store opened in Eindhoven followed by more stores. In April 2017, the brand was launched in Australia, when it took over the thirty five Trade Secret discount department stores. The stores opened in April in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne with stores in Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong, Albury, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast by the end of May.[14]

In November 2018, a mass brawl between hostile extended families took place at a TK Maxx outlet in Osnabrück, Germany, during Black Friday sales.[15]

In June 2023, the first store opened in Tasmania, Australia at Northgate Shopping Centre in Hobart.[16]

Charity support

United Kingdom

In 2007 and 2009, TK Maxx in the UK was the sole retailer of Red Nose Day T-shirts, sales of which generated £2 million in 2007 and £3 million in 2009 for Comic Relief.[17][18]

TK Maxx has been a supporter of the Woodland Trust since 2004, when it held a Christmas card recycling scheme in conjunction with the Trust.[19][20] From August 2008, TK Maxx introduced charges on plastic carrier bags and donated the proceeds to the Woodland Trust, which used the funds to plant 30,000 new trees on a 15-acre (60,703 m2) site near Elmstead Market, Essex.[21] This was before the 2015 phase-out of plastic bags in the UK, in which charges became mandatory and are now frequently donated to charity.[citation needed]

TK Maxx also runs a 'Give Up Clothes For Good' campaign, where customers are encouraged to bring in unwanted clothes for Cancer Research UK.[22]

Ireland

In Ireland, TK Maxx actively supports Enable Ireland, a charity which helps provide free services to children with disabilities.[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The name is sometimes punctuated as T.K. Maxx or T.K.Maxx, often stylized as T.k.maxx.

References

  1. ^ "Contact Us Page - TK Maxx UK".
  2. ^ a b c "The TJX Companies, Inc. FORM 10-Q".
  3. ^ "T·k·maxx in Europe". Tjx.com. April 20, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  4. ^ Hoovers. "The TJX Companies, Inc". Answers.com. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  5. ^ Joachim Zentes; Dirk. Morschett; Hanna Schramm-Klein (2011). Strategic Retail Management: Text and International Cases. Gabler Verlag. ISBN 9783834967404.
  6. ^ "T.K. Maxx". The TJX Companies. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  7. ^ "TK Maxx opens in the Hayes". Wales Online. May 24, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  8. ^ Donati, Marino (August 28, 2008). "Shoppers queue for Kensington TK Maxx". Drapers online. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  9. ^ Prynn, Jonathan (April 24, 2009). "TK Maxx 'not posh enough' for West End". Evening Standard. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  10. ^ Cooper, Ben (April 29, 2009). "TK Maxx 'not posh enough' for Piccadilly". Retail Week. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  11. ^ "Celebrities back TK Maxx over Piccadilly Circus store". Retail Week. May 1, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  12. ^ Duxbury, Nick (May 9, 2009). "TK Maxx Piccadilly store court case brought forward". Property Week. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  13. ^ Thompson, James (August 19, 2009). "Discount fashion: Taking it to the Maxx". The Independent. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
  14. ^ Campbell, Leigh (April 11, 2017). "Retail Giant TK Maxx Is Launching In Australia". Huff Post.
  15. ^ "Massenschlägerei am "Black Friday" bei TK Maxx: Großfamilien gehen aufeinander los". November 24, 2018.
  16. ^ "TK Maxx opens first Tassie store in Glenorchy". Hobart Observer. June 16, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  17. ^ "Red Nose Day Partners". Comic Relief. June 25, 2007. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
  18. ^ "TK Maxx". Red Nose Day 09. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  19. ^ Trust, Woodland. "Our Corporate Partners". Woodland Trust. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  20. ^ "TK Maxx and Woodland Trust working in partnership". Woodland Trust. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  21. ^ Lake, Howard. "Woodland Trust to plant trees with funds from TK Maxx carrier bags". UK Fundraising. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  22. ^ "Give up Clothes for Good". TK Maxx. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  23. ^ Rob Le Boutillier. "Give up Clothes for good - Enable Ireland - TK Maxx Ireland". tkmaxx.ie.
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