| Type | Subsidiary of TJX Companies |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Watford, United Kingdom |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewellery, beauty products, toys and housewares. |
| Website | www.tkmaxx.com |
T.K. Maxx is a retailer with stores throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Poland.[1] The company is part of the TJX Companies which also owns other 'off-price' retail chains such as T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in the United States and Winners in Canada. It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, beauty products, and housewares at up to 60% off their recommended retail price.
At the end of 2009, T.K. Maxx operated 263 stores across Europe and planned to open 48 more in 2010.[2]
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The first T.K. Maxx opened in Bristol in 1994.[3] T.K. Maxx's United States parent company, T.J. Maxx, adopted the name T.K. Maxx for stores in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Poland to avoid confusion with the existing but separate discount chain T J Hughes.
TK Maxx is part of TJX Europe headed by Paul Sweetenham as SEVP Group President. TJX Europe is split into four divisions: TK Maxx UK & Ireland headed by Doug Mizzi, TK Maxx Germany headed by Gino Barrera, and HomeSense UK headed by Louise Koser. The fourth division is Shared Services which as the title suggests consists of shared services between the three trading divisions such as distribution, logistics, buying and finance. Each trading division has its own Human Resources, Marketing and Loss Prevention departments to meet its individual needs.
In 2007, TK Maxx began a slowing down of new store openings within the UK. Focus was given to revamping older inner city stores or relocating them. Some of the chain's first stores such as Bristol and Reading have been expanded and extensively refurbished while others such as Southampton, Cardiff and Hull have been relocated to bigger sites. As part of the business's slow down of new stores, TK Maxx confirmed that it was only interested in opening stores averaging 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2). This decision led to the creation of the Maxx Maxx concept, a new department store format that saw TK Maxx get away from its pile it high, sell it cheap reputation into a large store format with a wider product range. Examples of Maxx Maxx store are Leeds The Headrow, Cardiff, Birmingham Bull Ring, Hammersmith, Manchester Market Street, Dundee, Cork and at the Merry Hill Shopping Centre near Dudley.
The business continues to expand and in recent years it has concentrated its efforts on developing individual brands, such as Kids Maxx and expanding Shoe departments. The introduction of new departments such as jewellery has improved customer choice.
The company also intends further expansion into the German market. The first store in Germany opened on 4 October 2007 in Lübeck.[4] The chain hopes that this will be more successful than the company's earlier attempt at opening stores in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2001.
In August 2008, T.K. Maxx opened its first central London store on High Street Kensington, on the site formerly occupied by Habitat.[5]
In March 2009 its e-commerce site was launched at first only selling handbags. The range of products has now been expanded and includes other accessories.[6]
In 2009, T.K. Maxx became locked in a dispute over its plans to open a store at Piccadilly Circus, London. It had signed an agreement in February 2009 to occupy a 20,000-square-foot (1,858 m2) unit, formerly used by Virgin Megastores and later Zavvi, with a £1.55 million a year rent.[7] The freehold to the land is owned by the Crown Estate which had the final decision over allowing the company to move into the unit. The Crown Estate rejected the plans, saying that it did not fit in with the strategy it had for the site which was meant to give the area an upmarket appeal.[8] The decision was met with condemnation from publicist Max Clifford who launched a campaign in conjunction with Look magazine to persuade the Crown Estate to allow the store to open in the unit.[9] T.K. Maxx went to court to appeal against the decision but failed, as Dutch retailer The Sting has now taken the building as their first UK store.[10]
In March 2007, the company was at the centre of major credit card fraud which affected its international operations. Details of customers' credit cards and debit cards were accessed by computer hackers, exposing 45.7 million customers to potential theft from their accounts. According to the company this affected customers who used their card between January 2003 and June 2004 at any branch of T.K. Maxx.[11] Details were stolen by hackers installing software via wi-fi[12] in June 2005 that allowed them to access personal information on customers. The breach continued until January 2007.[13]
Eleven people from around the world were charged with the breach in 2008.[14] Outside security provider Protegrity has estimated that T.K. Maxx's losses as a result of the data breach may reach £800 million in the years to come. The losses would come as a result of paying for credit checks and administrative costs for managing the fallout from the breach.[15]
In the UK in 2007, T.K. Maxx was an active participant of Comic Relief, having been the sole retailer of the Red Nose Day t-shirts which generated £2 million for the Comic Relief cause.[16] In 2009, T.K. Maxx was again the sole retailer of the Red Nose Day t-shirts with exclusive designs by Stella McCartney, raising a total of £3,200,589.[17]
In concurrence with Red Nose Day 2011, each TK Maxx is set a target by the company to raise, e.g. £3000. Each store is tries to raise the target by staff doing tasks e.g. non-uniform day, manager job swap, bun sales, official t-shirt sales and many other ideas.
T.K. Maxx also works with the Woodland Trust by starting to charge for plastic carrier bags in August 2008 and donating the proceeds to the Trust. The proceeds have allowed the Woodland Trust to plant 30,000 new trees on a 15 acres (60,703 m2) site near Elmstead Market, Essex. The usage of carrier bags from T.K. Maxx has reduced by 73% since the scheme was launched. Since 2004, T.K. Maxx has held a Christmas card recycling scheme in conjunction with the Trust.[18]
As from early 2011, UK stores ceased to charge for carrier bags, as the public reaction to charging was the number one customer services complaint.
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