A.J. Wright

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A.J. Wright

Type	Department store/Outlet store
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Framingham, MA
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website	www.aj-wright.com

A.J. Wright is a chain of approximately 152^[1] American retail/outlet stores established in 1998 and owned by TJX Companies. Like its sister company T.J. Maxx, A.J. Wright sells clothing, domestics, giftware, footwear, accessories, and fragrances at prices between twenty and seventy percent below regular prices.^[2] A.J. Wright differs from other TJX chains by refreshing its merchandise on a regular basis. For most stores, new shipments arrive every weekday.^[2]

Although A.J. Wright's primary target market is moderate-income families, its recent expansion has drawn additional consumer groups.^[1] The company's community service strategy centers on monetary donations to the Boys and Girls Club of America and other affiliates.^[3]

1 History
2 Slogans
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

A.J. Wright opened its first six stores in the northeastern region of the United States in the fall of 1998.^[4] The first three stores — located in the towns of Brockton, Somerville, and Malden, Massachusetts — were opened simultaneously on September 20 of that year.^[5] During the initial openings, Johnson & Wales University's marketing director, Mark Neckes, approved of A.J. Wright; he stated that A.J. Wright strengthens TJX's coverage of urban markets, an area "where people need a place to shop [and] a place where retailers understand what people are looking for".^[5]

A.J. Wright continued to open new stores as its customer base increased. By 2000, A.J. Wright operated 25 stores across the United States; by December 2001, the number had increased to 40.^[6] The chain opened an additional 112 stores by the end of 2005, bringing its total to 152;^[1] however, this number will fluctuate due to store closures. In 2006, one business article stated that A.J. Wright was "in the red" and that TJX needed to "figure out the future of its newer divisions, the less profitable A.J. Wright and HomeGoods stores and the non-off-price Bob’s Stores".^[7] Therefore, the company chose to focus on lowering the rapid expansion of the chain.^[7]

One of the 34 stores undergoing closing procedures

On November 30, 2006, TJX announced the closure of 34 underproducing stores.^[8] According to a TJX 10-Q on December 1, 2006, the closures were determined by "several factors, including market demographics and proximity to other A.J. Wright stores, cash return, sales volume and productivity, recent comparable store sales and profit trends, and overall market performance".^[9] Employees were provided with severance packages or offers to transfer to other A.J. Wright or TJX stores.^[10] Ben Cammarata, CEO of TJX Companies, stated:^[11]

“

In our ongoing pursuit to drive profitable sales, we have made a strategic decision that we believe makes A.J. Wright a stronger business and puts it in a substantially better position for future growth. By closing 34 of the 162 A.J. Wright stores, we eliminate marginally profitable stores and accomplish several important things: we substantially reduce the number of advertising markets in which we operate, enabling us to better lever marketing dollars and efforts; we gain efficiencies in store operations and logistics; and we have greater ability to focus management attention and resources on the bulk of A.J. Wright stores that are performing well, so that we can build upon that base and grow successfully.

”

The tentative closure date for the stores was January 27, 2007.^[11] Because of closing expenses, TJX expected to include a reduction of $37 million in their fourth quarter 2006 net income statement.^[8] On February 21, 2007, TJX reported that the net income had fallen from $288.7 million the previous year to $205.5 million; the reduction included the $37 million closing expenses.^[12]^[13] The company expects to open approximately ten new stores by 2008.^[8]

During this period, the TJX database was hacked and customer information was compromised.^[14]^[15] Although TJX originally stated that the security breach occurred between May 2006 and January 2007, the company discovered that the database had also been compromised in 2005.^[12]^[13]