TJ Maxx to shutter store
By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor | Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2007
SIOUX CITY -- TJ Maxx, a discounter of apparel and home fashion, plans to close its local store in the Mayfair Center by Jan. 13, a company official confirmed Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the national retailer gave no specific reason behind the shuttering other than to say it involved the company's ongoing assessment of its U.S. locations.
"From time to time, like most companies, we need to make strategic business decisions,'' spokeswoman Annmarie Farretta said. ''We'd like to extend our thanks and appreciation to our customers and associates for their support and patronage of our Sioux City location.''
Farretta said the store employs 38 people, most of whom are part time. The displaced workers will be offered transfers to other TJ Maxx stores and severance packages based on their years of service.
Since 1995, TJ Maxx has occupied 30,000 square feet of the first level of the Mayfair Center at 2380 Sergeant Road. It's the only remaining retail tenant in the two-story Mayfair, which opened in 1988 as an enclosed mall. The rest of the former retail space has been converted to offices.
John Gleeson, executive vice president of Klinger Properties Inc., which owns the Mayfair, said TJ Maxx's decision was not surprising because retail traffic has slowed on that end of Sergeant Road. Two years ago, Lakeport Commons, a new 50-acre shopping complex, opened down the street at its intersection with South Lakeport Street.
"We tried and tried in the worst way to keep them,'' Gleeson said of TJ Maxx. "We dropped our rent. We did everything and anything we could to keep them.''
Gleeson said Klinger has some preliminary plans to convert the TJ Maxx space to offices. "Ideally, we'd like to have a 30,000-square-foot call center there, or three 10,000-square-foot office users there,'' he said.
TJ Maxx offers brand name apparel, home fashions, jewelry and other items at prices billed at 20 percent to 60 percent below department and specialty stores' regular prices. TJ Maxx's parent, Framingham, Mass.-based TJX Companies, operates more than 800 TJ Maxx stores in the United States.
A spokeswoman for the national retailer gave no specific reason behind the shuttering other than to say it involved the company's ongoing assessment of its U.S. locations.
"From time to time, like most companies, we need to make strategic business decisions,'' spokeswoman Annmarie Farretta said. ''We'd like to extend our thanks and appreciation to our customers and associates for their support and patronage of our Sioux City location.''
Farretta said the store employs 38 people, most of whom are part time. The displaced workers will be offered transfers to other TJ Maxx stores and severance packages based on their years of service.
Since 1995, TJ Maxx has occupied 30,000 square feet of the first level of the Mayfair Center at 2380 Sergeant Road. It's the only remaining retail tenant in the two-story Mayfair, which opened in 1988 as an enclosed mall. The rest of the former retail space has been converted to offices.
John Gleeson, executive vice president of Klinger Properties Inc., which owns the Mayfair, said TJ Maxx's decision was not surprising because retail traffic has slowed on that end of Sergeant Road. Two years ago, Lakeport Commons, a new 50-acre shopping complex, opened down the street at its intersection with South Lakeport Street.
"We tried and tried in the worst way to keep them,'' Gleeson said of TJ Maxx. "We dropped our rent. We did everything and anything we could to keep them.''
Gleeson said Klinger has some preliminary plans to convert the TJ Maxx space to offices. "Ideally, we'd like to have a 30,000-square-foot call center there, or three 10,000-square-foot office users there,'' he said.
TJ Maxx offers brand name apparel, home fashions, jewelry and other items at prices billed at 20 percent to 60 percent below department and specialty stores' regular prices. TJ Maxx's parent, Framingham, Mass.-based TJX Companies, operates more than 800 TJ Maxx stores in the United States.
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ATJMaxxShopper wrote on May 29, 2008 2:15 PM:
Just an FYI for Sioux City retail planners/negotiators - DON'T let TJX Companies talk you into an AJWright (very cheap merchandise) or Marshalls (ok, but certainly NOT a TJMaxx). "
TINA wrote on Dec 23, 2007 2:38 PM:
Thrash wrote on Dec 21, 2007 8:43 AM:
Jerry H. wrote on Dec 21, 2007 8:31 AM: